make a killing

verb

make a killing

verb

Etymology Originally US English.

1

Idiomatic To win or earn a large amount of money.

"Now if they were playing faro I could make a killing."1913, Rex Ellingwood Beach, chapter 5, in The Iron Trail: An Alaskan Romance:
And I said I still make a pretty good living / But you must make a killing / A killing1996, Ani DiFranco, “Napoleon”, in Dilate:

1 more example

Danny Boyle's critical darling 'Slumdog Millionaire' has made a killing at the box office and is now being lavished with awards.2009 January 17, Tom Huddleston, “What's all the fuss about 'Slumdog Millionaire'?”, in Time:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.