the staff of life
Preserved but no longer current.
Bread, which is the support of life. "Bread," says he, "dear brothers, is the staff of life.' —SWIFT: Tale of a Tub, iv. Shakespeare says, "The boy was the very staff of my age." The allusion is to a staff which supports the feeble in walking.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “the staff of life” mean?
Bread, which is the support of life. "Bread," says he, "dear brothers, is the staff of life.' —SWIFT: Tale of a Tub, iv. Shakespeare says, "The boy was the very staff of my age." The allusion is to a staff which supports the feeble in walking.
Is “the staff of life” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.