make a killing
Meaning: To make a lot of money quickly.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “They bought the building for almost nothing and made a killing when the neighborhood took off.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: American slang of the 1880s, first used of a big win at gambling or on the stock market. "Killing" had long meant a striking success, possibly after a hunter's successful kill.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: faire ses choux gras — literally: to make one's cabbages fat
More idioms — Daily Life
- lie low — To stay out of sight and avoid attention.
- get lucky — To succeed in having a sexual encounter.
- shout it from the rooftops — To tell everyone about something, openly and loudly.
- be in the thick of it — To be in the busiest or most intense part of an activity.
- take French leave — To leave without saying goodbye or asking permission.
- dress to the nines — To dress very smartly or elaborately.
More English idioms
- worm something out of someone — To get information from someone gradually and persistently.
- eat one's words — To admit that something one said was wrong.
- have a big head — To be conceited; to think too highly of oneself.
- have itchy feet — To feel a restless urge to travel or move on.
- wait on someone hand and foot — To do everything for someone, attending to their every need.
- bare one's teeth — To show hostility and a readiness to fight.
From our tongue twisters
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. — A relentless 'p' plosive drill; a peck is an old dry measure of about nine litres.
- Unique New York. — Three words that jam the 'y/n/k' sequence together — repeat it and it collapses into 'you…
- Pad kid poured curd pulled cod. — Alternating repetition — the consonants swap at the start of every other word, which is w…