SINCE 1828

An Encyclopædia Britannica Company

loaves and fishes

plural noun

Definition of loaves and fishes

: material gain

concentrating on how to get loaves and fishes, the schools … make out of our youngsters precisely what their parents wish them to become
—B. I. Bell

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Origin and Etymology of loaves and fishes

so called from the 5 barley loaves and 2 fishes with which Jesus miraculously fed a multitude of 5000 (John 6) that he later reproached for their greater interest in the food than in him (John 6: 26)

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