bring home the bacon

bring  (brng)

tr.v. brought (brôt), bring·ing, brings

1. To carry, convey, lead, or cause to go along to another place: brought enough money with me.

2. To carry as an attribute or contribution: You bring many years of experience to your new post.

3. To lead or force into a specified state, situation, or location: bring the water to a boil; brought the meeting to a close.

4.

a. To persuade; induce: The defendant's testimony brought others to confess.

b. To get the attention of; attract: Smoke and flames brought the neighbors.

5. To cause to occur as a consequence or concomitant: Floods brought destruction to the valley. For many, the fall brings hayfever.

6. To cause to become apparent to the mind; recall: This music brings back memories.

7. Law To advance or set forth (charges) in a court.

8. To sell for: a portrait that brought a million dollars.

Phrasal Verbs:

bring around/round

1. To cause to adopt an opinion or take a certain course of action.

2. To cause to recover consciousness.

bring down

1. To cause to fall or collapse.

2. To kill.

bring forth

1. To give rise to; produce: plants bringing forth fruit.

2. To give birth to (young).

bring forward

1. To present; produce: bring forward proof.

2. Accounting To carry (a sum) from one page or column to another.

bring in

1. Law To give or submit (a verdict) to a court.

2. To produce, yield, or earn (profits or income).

bring off

To accomplish: bring off a successful advertising campaign.

bring on

To cause to appear: brought on the dessert.

bring out

1.

a. To reveal or expose: brought out the facts.

b. To introduce (a debutante) to society.

2. To produce or publish: bring out a new book.

3. To nurture and develop (a quality, for example) to best advantage: You bring out the best in me.

bring to

1. To cause to recover consciousness.

2. Nautical To cause (a ship) to turn into the wind or come to a stop.

bring up

1. To take care of and educate (a child); rear.

2. To introduce into discussion; mention.

3. To vomit.

4. To cause to come to a sudden stop.

Idioms:

bring down the house

To win overwhelming approval from an audience.

bring home

To make perfectly clear: a lecture that brought home several important points.

bring home the bacon

1. To earn a living, especially for a family.

2. To achieve desired results; have success.

bring to bear

1. To exert; apply: bring pressure to bear on the student's parents.

2. To put (something) to good use: "All of one's faculties are brought to bear in an effort to become fully incorporated into the landscape" (Barry Lopez).

bring to light

To reveal or disclose: brought the real facts to light.

bring to mind

To cause to be remembered: Thoughts of fishing brought to mind our youth.

bring to (one's) knees

To reduce to a position of subservience or submission.

bring to terms

To force (another) to agree.

bring up the rear

To be the last in a line or sequence.

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[Middle English bringen, from Old English bringan; see bher-¹ in Indo-European roots.]

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bringer n.

Usage Note: In most dialects of American English bring is used to denote motion toward the place of speaking or the place from which the action is regarded: Bring it over here. The prime minister brought a large retinue to Washington with her. Take is used to denote motion away from such a place: Take it over there. The President will take several advisers with him when he goes to Moscow. When the relevant point of focus is not the place of speaking itself, the difference obviously depends on the context. We can say either The labor leaders brought or took their requests to the mayor's office, depending on whether we want to describe things from the point of view of the labor leaders or the mayor. Perhaps for this reason, the distinction between bring and take has been blurred in some areas; a parent may say of a child, for example, She always takes a pile of books home with her from school. This usage may sound curious to those who are accustomed to observe the distinction more strictly, but it bears no particular stigma of incorrectness or illiteracy. · The form brung is common in colloquial use in many areas, even among educated speakers, but it is not standard in formal writing.

Thesaurus

Verb	1.	bring home the bacon - attain success or reach a desired goal; "The enterprise succeeded"; "We succeeded in getting tickets to the show"; "she struggled to overcome her handicap and won" deliver the goods, succeed, win, come through hit - hit the intended target or goal bring off, carry off, manage, negociate, pull off - be successful; achieve a goal; "She succeeded in persuading us all"; "I managed to carry the box upstairs"; "She pulled it off, even though we never thought her capable of it"; "The pianist negociated the difficult runs" clear, pass - go unchallenged; be approved; "The bill cleared the House" hit the jackpot, luck out - succeed by luck; "I lucked out and found the last parking spot in the lot" nail down, peg, nail - succeed in obtaining a position; "He nailed down a spot at Harvard" make it, pass - go successfully through a test or a selection process; "She passed the new Jersey Bar Exam and can practice law now" run - make without a miss work, act - have an effect or outcome; often the one desired or expected; "The voting process doesn't work as well as people thought"; "How does your idea work in practice?"; "This method doesn't work"; "The breaks of my new car act quickly"; "The medicine works only if you take it with a lot of water" pan out - be a success; "The idea panned out" achieve, attain, accomplish, reach - to gain with effort; "she achieved her goal despite setbacks" go far, make it, arrive, get in - succeed in a big way; get to the top; "After he published his book, he had arrived"; "I don't know whether I can make it in science!"; "You will go far, my boy!"
	2.	bring home the bacon - supply means of subsistence; earn a living; "He provides for his large family by working three jobs"; "Women nowadays not only take care of the household but also bring home the bacon" provide support - support materially or financially; "he does not support his natural children"; "The scholarship supported me when I was in college"