make a killing

English

Etymology

Originally US English.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

make a killing (third-person singular simple present makes a killing, present participle making a killing, simple past and past participle made a killing)

1. (idiomatic) To win or earn a large amount of money.
   • 1913, Rex Ellingwood Beach, chapter 5, in The Iron Trail: An Alaskan Romance:

     "Now if they were playing faro I could make a killing."

   • 1996, Ani DiFranco (lyrics and music), “Napoleon”, in Dilate:

     And I said I still make a pretty good living / But you must make a killing / A killing

   • 2009 January 17, Tom Huddleston, “What's all the fuss about 'Slumdog Millionaire'?”, in Time:

     Danny Boyle's critical darling 'Slumdog Millionaire' has made a killing at the box office and is now being lavished with awards.

Usage notes

• The term was used in the literal sense by American bison hunters to describe the act of shooting a large number of buffalo in a short period of time:

1907, John R. Cook, The Border and the Buffalo, Citadel Press (1967), page 118 (describing events occurring in the 1870s):

Buck said if I would stay with him he would make a killing as long as it would pay to stay; said he would give me 30 cents apiece for all the buffaloes I would skin and peg out.

Translations

to win or earn a large amount of money

• Finnish: tienata hyvät rahat, lyödä rahoiksi
• French: toucher le jackpot (fr)
• German: (großen) Reibach machen, sich eine goldene Nase verdienen (de)
• Italian: sbancare (it), fare una fortuna, fare cassa
• Polish: zbijać kasę impf
• Romanian: a da lovitura
• Russian: грести́ де́ньги лопатой (grestí dénʹgi lopatoj)
• Spanish: hacer su agosto (es), hacerse la América, ponerse las botas (es), devengar un dineral

Further reading

• “make a killing v.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present