hand over fist/foot

[Benjamin Zimmer]

Nate Silver on FiveThirtyEight:

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http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/03/two-birds-one-stone-regulation-and.html
But they were also making money hand over fist, and so the excesses
were easy to ignore.
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This originally read "hand over foot" until a commenter said it should
be "hand over fist" and the text was edited.

"Hand over foot" is well-attested from the late 19C on, though it's
not yet in the OED. It usually gets used along the lines of OED sense
a or b for "hand over hand":

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a. With each hand brought successively over the other, as in climbing
up or down a rope, or rapidly hauling at it.
b. fig. With continuous advances; said of a vessel, etc. approaching
or giving chase to another.
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Since the mid-20C "hand over foot" has also been used in the
money-making sense, like "hand over fist" (OED: "HAND OVER HAND. Also,
esp., fig. of the making of money"), e.g.:

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http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,852718,00.html
Time, Feb. 25, 1946
The great mass of companies, which did not have to reconvert, went
right on making money hand over foot.
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And 90+ exx here:

http://books.google.com/books?q="money+hand+over+foot"



--Ben Zimmer

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