breadbasket [bred-bas-kit, -bah-skit] EXAMPLES|WORD ORIGIN noun a basket or similar container for bread or rolls. an agricultural area that provides large amounts of food, especially grain, to other areas. Slang. a person’s stomach or abdomen. adjective of, relating to, or characteristic of a geographical breadbasket: Iowa is a breadbasket state. Liberaldictionary.com
Origin of breadbasket First recorded in 1545–55; bread + basket Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019 Examples from the Web for bread-basket Historical Examples of bread-basket
I have long wished to have a bout with those knights of the bread-basket.
Friedrich Schiller
His heart he called his courage-hold and his stomach his bread-basket.
Benito Prez Galds
He hammered his big fist into the bread-basket of the ringleader and said, ‘Git!’
William MacLeod Raine
Then the servant brought him his portion, and gave him bread from the bread-basket.
Homer
One of the most striking—and satisfactory—features of the new restaurant rgime is the disappearance of the bread-basket.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 152, April 25, 1917
Various
British Dictionary definitions for bread-basket breadbasket noun a basket for carrying bread or rolls a slang word for stomach Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for bread-basket n.
1550s, “basket for holding bread,” from bread (n.) + basket. Slang meaning “stomach” is attested from 1753, especially in pugilism.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper