gravy train

the gravy train

A state, position, or job in which one makes an excessive amount of money without expending much or any effort. I'll be on the gravy train once I get paid from the settlement of the lawsuit! My brother ended up on the gravy train when he married his wife, whose family owns one of the largest oil companies in the world.

See also: gravy, train

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

the ˈgravy train

(informal, especially American English) (of a particular job or situation) an easy way of getting a lot of money and other benefits: Financial services produce very high earnings, and a lot of people are trying to get onto the gravy train.

See also: gravy, train

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

gravy train

n. a job that brings in a steady supply of easy money or gravy. This kind of job is a real gravy train.

See also: gravy, train

McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

gravy train, the

Easy money; the good life, obtained with little effort. This American slang term became current during the financial boom of the 1920s. It originated in railroad slang, where “gravy train” meant a run on which there was good pay and little work. (Gravy itself became slang for easy money, or an illicit profit obtained through graft, in the early 1900s.) “There was a moment . . . when the whole Jocelyn sideshow seemed to be boarding the gravy train . . . on to fatter triumphs” (Mary McCarthy, The Groves of Academe, 1953).

See also: gravy

The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer