bacon

¹

[ bey-kuhn ]

noun

1. the back and sides of the hog, salted and dried or smoked, usually sliced thin and fried for food.
2. Also called white bacon. South Midland and Southern U.S. pork cured in brine; salt pork.

Bacon

²

[ bey-kuhn ]

noun

1. Francis Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Albans, 1561–1626, English essayist, philosopher, and statesman.
2. Francis, 1910–92, English painter, born in Ireland.
3. Henry, 1866–1924, U.S. architect.
4. Nathaniel, 1647–76, American colonist, born in England: leader of a rebellion in Virginia 1676.
5. Roger The Admirable Doctor, 1214?–94?, English philosopher and scientist.

bacon

¹

/ ˈbeɪkən /

noun

1. meat from the back and sides of a pig, dried, salted, and usually smoked
2. bring home the bacon informal.
   1. to achieve success
   2. to provide material support
3. save someone's bacon informal.
   to help someone to escape from danger

Bacon

²

/ ˈbeɪkən /

noun

1. BaconFrancis, Viscount St Albans15611626MEnglishPHILOSOPHY: philosopherPOLITICS: statesmanWRITING: essayist Francis , Baron Verulam, Viscount St Albans. 1561–1626, English philosopher, statesman, and essayist; described the inductive method of reasoning: his works include Essays (1625), The Advancement of Learning (1605), and Novum Organum (1620)
2. BaconFrancis19091992MBritishARTS AND CRAFTS: painter Francis . 1909–92, British painter, born in Dublin, noted for his distorted, richly coloured human figures, dogs, and carcasses
3. BaconRoger?12141292MEnglishRELIGION: monkMISC: scholarSCIENCE: scientist Roger . ?1214–92, English Franciscan monk, scholar, and scientist: stressed the importance of experiment, demonstrated that air is required for combustion, and first used lenses to correct vision. His Opus Majus (1266) is a compendium of all the sciences of his age

Bacon

/ bā′kən /

1. English scientist and philosopher who is noted for the wide range of his knowledge and writing on scientific topics. Bacon pioneered the idea that mathematics is fundamental to science and that experimentation is essential to test scientific theories.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bacon¹

1300–50; Middle English bacoun < Anglo-French; Old French bacon < Germanic *bakōn- ( Old High German bacho back, ham, bacon) derivative of *baka- back ¹; compare Middle Dutch bake bacon

Word History and Origins

Origin of bacon¹

C12: from Old French bacon , from Old High German bahho ; related to Old Saxon baco ; see back ¹

Biography

Roger Bacon was something of a Renaissance man before there was a Renaissance. Over the course of his long life, his energetic research would lead him to study everything from languages to mathematics to optics. He is most remembered for his insistence on the importance of pursuing fruitful lines of scientific research through experimentation. His writings describe countless experiments; while the majority were probably never performed by him, the profusion alone of experimental ideas is nothing short of astounding. His own laboratory work dealt primarily with alchemy, optics, and mechanics. He was among the first to apply geometric and mathematical principles to problems in optics and the behavior of light, allowing him to make important observations on reflection and refraction. His interest in mechanics led him to describe flying machines and other devices that had not yet been invented. He was the first person in the West to come up with a recipe for gunpowder, and he suggested reforms to the calendar, which would ultimately be implemented hundreds of years later. His novel ways of pursuing knowledge were sometimes viewed with suspicion, resulting at one time in imprisonment; but he bravely resisted all strictures on his intellectual life, even when that meant having to write and work in secret.

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. bring home the bacon,
   1. to provide for material needs; earn a living.
   2. to accomplish a task; be successful or victorious:

      Our governor went to Washington to appeal for disaster relief and brought home the bacon—$40 million.

2. save one's bacon, Informal. to allow one to accomplish a desired end; spare one from injury or loss:

   Quick thinking saved our bacon.

More idioms and phrases containing bacon

see bring home the bacon ; save one's bacon .

Example Sentences

He spoons cricket powder over his morning yogurt, sprinkles larvae over his salads like bacon bits, and fries up frozen crickets for supper.

From Time

Make this a salad by omitting the bread, doubling and chopping the lettuce, crumbling the bacon, mixing that with the roasted tomatoes and their juices and then tossing it all with a simple salad dressing.

From Washington Post

Besides, this recipe starts with bacon, so it can only go up from there.

From Washington Post

Another microwaveable option, this savory bowl of oats is topped with bacon, cheese, greens and pickled peppers.

From Washington Post

If you’re talking breakfast, my healthy go-to order would be getting an Egg McMuffin sandwich with no bacon on it.

From Time

And if people find themselves dissatisfied with how often they turn to fast food, Bacon says to try things like batch cooking.

From The Daily Beast

The problem, says UC Davis physiologist and nutritionist Linda Bacon, is that very few people can lose weight and keep it off.

From The Daily Beast

Instead of just cutting out whole food groups, Bacon says people should pay attention to how food makes them feel.

From The Daily Beast

“Most of the diseases we blame on nutrition are actually diseases of disempowerment,” Bacon said.

From The Daily Beast

Louis Bacon, another big donor, owns land all over the world, including a grouse-hunting estate in Scotland.

From The Daily Beast

With Bacon, experientia does not always mean observation; and may mean either experience or experiment.

From Project Gutenberg

It lacks convincingness perhaps from the fact that Thomass theology is so largely philosophy, as Roger Bacon said.

From Project Gutenberg

Sentence of fine and imprisonment passed upon lord Bacon in the house of peers for bribery.

From Project Gutenberg

Short men liked short cuts, but, as Bacon said, the shortest way is commonly the foulest.

From Project Gutenberg

Beans and bacon, cabbage and brown hard dumplings, formed the bill of fare, which the men washed down with plenty of table beer.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• pancetta
• pork