hand over fist

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Adverb

hand over fist (not comparable)

1. (idiomatic) Quickly or in great quantity, especially in reference to earning money.

   Synonym: hand over hand

   to make money hand over fist

   • 1880, Robert Louis Stevenson, “chapter 4”, in The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, volume I:

     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.

   • 1888, Rolf Boldrewood, “chapter 39”, in Robbery Under Arms:

     Now, since cattle had risen and meat and all to such a price, he was making money hand over fist.

   • 1889, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, New York, N.Y.: Charles L. Webster & Company, →OCLC:

     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.

   • 1913 October, Jack London, The Valley of the Moon, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC:

     Why, those Dalmatians are showing Pajaro apples on the South African market right now, and coining money out of it hand over fist.

   • 1917, Upton Sinclair, The Profits of Religion […] ‎^[1]:

     Now we are in the War and our business is booming, we are making money hand over fist.

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[8]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and 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.

   • 2009 June 3, Conor Clarke, “It's Time to Tax College Sports”, in The Atlantic‎^[2]:

     And while pulling in dollars hand over fist might have some educational value, I doubt it's what Congress had in mind.

Translations

quickly or in great quantity

• Finnish: pilvin pimein (fi), rutosti (fi)
• Hungarian: játszva (hu), könnyedén (hu), könnyűszerrel (hu)
• Italian: a più non posso (it)
• Portuguese: a rodo(s) (pt), à farta (pt), a dar com o/um pau (colloquial)
• Russian: бы́стро (ru) (býstro), лопа́той (lopátoj)
• Spanish: a rodo, a porillo