"hand over hand" meaning in English

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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
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          "kind": "topical",
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      "glosses": [
        "by passing the hands alternately one before or above the other, especially with rope"
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        "(nautical) by passing the hands alternately one before or above the other, especially with rope"
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        "not-comparable"
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        "nautical",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1824, Washington Irving, The Devil and Tom Walker",
          "text": "In this way he made money hand over hand; became a rich and mighty man, and exalted his cocked hat upon change.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "ref": "1890, William Dean Howells, A Hazard of New Fortunes, chapter 11",
          "text": "He was making money, hand over hand, then; and he never stopped speculating and improving till he'd scraped together three or four hundred thousand dollars",
          "type": "quotation"
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        "rapidly"
      ],
      "id": "en-hand_over_hand-en-adv-O074xoPx",
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          "rapidly",
          "rapidly"
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      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "3 97",
          "sense": "rapidly",
          "word": "hand over fist"
        }
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        "not-comparable"
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      "tags": [
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  "word": "hand over hand"
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      "expansion": "hand over hand (not comparable)",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Nautical"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "by passing the hands alternately one before or above the other, especially with rope"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "nautical",
          "nautical"
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(nautical) by passing the hands alternately one before or above the other, especially with rope"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
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      "topics": [
        "nautical",
        "transport"
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      "examples": [
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          "ref": "1824, Washington Irving, The Devil and Tom Walker",
          "text": "In this way he made money hand over hand; became a rich and mighty man, and exalted his cocked hat upon change.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1890, William Dean Howells, A Hazard of New Fortunes, chapter 11",
          "text": "He was making money, hand over hand, then; and he never stopped speculating and improving till he'd scraped together three or four hundred thousand dollars",
          "type": "quotation"
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "rapidly"
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          "rapidly"
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "rapidly",
      "word": "hand over fist"
    }
  ],
  "word": "hand over hand"
}