bandit
make out like a bandit
To make a very large profit or be extremely successful. You can actually make out like a bandit if you know all the fees and expenses that you're entitled to. Sarah is making out like a bandit developing apps for government agencies. They made out like bandits when they're startup company was purchased by the global tech giant.
See also: bandit, like, make, out
one-arm bandit
A slot machine designed for gambling in which you pull down a lever on one side that generates a random combination of three shapes, which may or may not award the player money depending on the combination received. After my wife lost her entire month's wages to the one-arm bandits in Atlantic City, we've decided to stay away from casinos altogether.
See also: bandit
one-armed bandit
A slot machine designed for gambling in which you pull down a lever on one side that generates a random combination of three shapes, which may or may not award the player money depending on the combination received. After my wife lost her entire month's wages to the one-armed bandits in Atlantic City, we've decided to stay away from casinos altogether.
See also: bandit
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
make out like a bandit
Rur. to make a large profit. Joe's making out like a bandit, selling expensive cameras. Mary made out like a bandit, playing twenty-one in Las Vegas.
See also: bandit, like, make, out
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
make out like a bandit
Succeed extremely well, as in He invested in real estate and made out like a bandit. This expression likens other forms of success to that of a triumphant robber. It may, however, come from an intermediate source, that is, the use of bandit (or one-armed bandit) for a slot machine, which is far more profitable for the house than for gamblers. [Slang; c. 1970]
See also: bandit, like, make, out
one-armed bandit
A slot machine, as in It's amazing how many people think they can make money playing a one-armed bandit. This term refers to both appearance and function: the operating lever looks like an arm, and the machine in effect robs players, since it "wins" and keeps the player's money in an overwhelming majority of instances. [c. 1930]
See also: bandit
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
make out like a bandit
Slang To be highly successful in a given enterprise.
See also: bandit, like, make, out
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
make out like a bandit
Operate very successfully. This slangy term refers not to an outlaw but to the one-armed bandit of gambling—that is, a slot machine. Since slot machines invariably win, making out like one is synonymous with success. Sometimes shortened to simply like a bandit, the phrase dates from the second half of the 1900s. Cartoonist Gary Trudeau used it in Doonesbury in 1985: “Unlike our farm belt cousins, Californians have been makin’ out like bandits.”
See also: bandit, like, make, out
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- make out like a bandit
- out-of-pocket expenses
- one's fair share
- (one's) fair share (of something)
- your fair share of something
- pencil out
- someone or something owes you a living
- the world owes you a living
- think something/someone owes you a living
- think the world owes (one) a living