hand over fist
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.87 in modern English
22
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
2
Syllables
12
Unique Chars
Meaning
adv
Quickly or in great quantity, especially in reference to earning money.
Example Sentences
- "to make money hand over fist"
- "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."
- "Now, since cattle had risen and meat and all to such a price, he was making money hand over fist."
- "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."
- "Why, those Dalmatians are showing Pajaro apples on the South African market right now, and coining money out of it hand over fist."
- "Now we are in the War and our business is booming, we are making money hand over fist."
Etymology
Related to earlier hand over hand, this phrase originally referred to a speedy method of climbing up or hauling on a rope.