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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

hand over fist en · ADV

Pronunciation

Etymology

Related to earlier hand over hand, this phrase originally referred to a speedy method of climbing up or hauling on a rope.

Meanings

  1. (idiomatic, not-comparable) Quickly or in great quantity, especially in reference to earning money.
    • to make money hand over fist
    • Now, since cattle had risen and meat and all to such a price, he was making money hand over fist. 1888, Rolf Boldrewood, “chapter 39”, in Robbery Under Arms:
    • Now we are in the War and our business is booming, we are making money hand over fist. 1917, Upton Sinclair, The Profits of Religion […] :
    • Are you coming over again to see me some day soon? I keep returning, and now hand over fist, from the realms of Hades: I saw that gentleman between the eyes, and fear him less after each visit. 1880, Robert Louis Stevenson, “chapter 4”, in The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, volume I:
    • He was a live man and a brisk talker, and had two journeymen and three apprentices, and was doing a raging business. In fact, he was getting rich, hand over fist, and was vastly respected. 1889, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, New York, N.Y.: Charles L. Webster & Company, →OCLC:
    • England made metres hand over fist and, that intensity, combined with set-piece dominance, made a breakthrough inevitable. 2025 August 22, Mike Henson, “England open World Cup with 11-try win over USA”, in BBC Sport:
    • And while pulling in dollars hand over fist might have some educational value, I doubt it's what Congress had in mind. 2009 June 3, Conor Clarke, “It's Time to Tax College Sports”, in The Atlantic:
    • Why, those Dalmatians are showing Pajaro apples on the South African market right now, and coining money out of it hand over fist. 1913 October, Jack London, The Valley of the Moon, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC:
    • Still it’s the same fish perhaps old Micky Hanlon of Moore street ripped the guts out of making money hand over fist finger in fishes’ gills can’t write his name on a cheque think he was painting the landscape with his mouth twisted. 1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[8]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC:

Synonyms

hand over hand

Translations (13)

es a rodo (quickly or in great quantity) · it a più non posso (quickly or in great quantity) · hu játszva (quickly or in great quantity) · pt a rodo (s) (quickly or in great quantity) · pt à farta (quickly or in great quantity) · hu könnyűszerrel (quickly or in great quantity) · ru лопа́той (quickly or in great quantity) · fi rutosti (quickly or in great quantity) · es a porillo (quickly or in great quantity) · fi pilvin pimein (quickly or in great quantity) · ru бы́стро (quickly or in great quantity) · hu könnyedén (quickly or in great quantity) · pt a dar com o/um pau (quickly or in great quantity)