hand over hand
IdiomsExample Sentences
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With the aid of an "elbow" joint, it will shift position by moving hand over hand.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2021
“They formed a human chain, passing the books hand over hand from one person to the next, through the smoky building and out the door,” Orlean writes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2019
He grabs a cord leading out of the tube and reels it up, hand over hand, until a cigar-shaped capsule emerges—a packet of neutron-absorbing cadmium.
From Science Magazine ● Aug. 31, 2017
The fireball caused burns over more than 70 percent of Bruner’s body, but he found the strength to climb a rope 100 feet hand over hand to the repair ship Vestal.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 20, 2015
You push along a flat-bottomed boat with a long pole, hoisting it, hand over hand, out of the water, then pushing it down hard and driving the boat forward.
From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.