Made Out Like a Bandit Meaning
Definition: To get a large amount of riches or valuable things.
Origin of Made Out Like a Bandit
The bandit is this phrase doesn’t refer to an outlaw or robber but to the one-armed bandit of gambling, i.e., a slot machine.
Slot machines are known for their terrible odds, so if you were to make out like the slot machine after a weekend at the casino, you would have had a very successful time.
Typically, people use this expression to refer to making a great profit, or a lot of money. However, it is also possible to use to refer to other, non-monetary things.
Examples of Made Out Like a Bandit
This example dialogue involves a husband and wife who are discussing their success at poker night.
Jennie: Hey! Thanks for letting us host poker night with my friends from work. Did you have fun?
Bobby: Yeah! It was great!
Jennie: I feel like we were winning a lot. Do you know how much money we won total?
Bobby: Oh, yeah! We made out like bandits! We got over $200!
Jennie: Wow! That’s great!
Two friends are discussing their hunting trip.
Andrew: I’m so glad we were able to go hunting this weekend. I shot several turkeys and a giant buck! I’m going to try to butcher them myself, so I can keep all the meat.
Aaron: Yeah, I got a lot too. I can’t believe how successful we were. We really made out like bandits! I caught enough to last me through winter, and I might even be able to sell some of this to my neighbors!
More Examples
This excerpt is from an article about the raccoon logo for a company.
- Within a few days, Gewlas landed a job interview with Le Meur over Skype. Twenty-two minutes later, he was a full-time Seesmic employee.
“I got lucky,” Gewlas said. “I got the job, the girl, the friends. I made out like a bandit.” –LA Times
The second excerpt is about movie ticket sales.
- The road comedy “Identity Thief” also made out like a bandit — capturing the No. 2 slot by scamming its way to $23.4 million in ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada. –New York Daily News
Summary
The idiom to make out like a bandit means to get a lot of money or some other good thing.
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