a little bit of bread and no cheese

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Having some resources, but not enough to be sufficient

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Có một số nguồn lực, nhưng không đủ để thỏa mãn

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: a small amount of bread without cheese
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English
Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “a little bit of bread and no cheese” mean?

Having some resources, but not enough to be sufficient Literally: a small amount of bread without cheese

Is “a little bit of bread and no cheese” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.