The word buck has a number of meanings: it can be the male of certain species (rabbits and deer, for example), it can be the “buck” made by an untrained horse, or it can be a verb – “to reject”, “to refuse”, “to oppose”.
None of these meanings are as well known, however, as the meaning that goes into this expression: “dollar”, “duck”, “money”.
Make a buck , as you can now see, means “to make money”, “to earn a buck”. Make a buck is used in the context of a job that doesn’t pay much, but that you do because you need to earn a little money. But make a buck can also refer to “a good amount of money”. And, very often, the expression is used to talk about “quick money”: make a quick buck or make a fast buck .
Let’s look at some examples that illustrate how you can use the expression:
I
am just working hard, trying to make a buck .
Everyone ‘s trying to think of ways to make a few bucks . (As you can
see, sometimes buck can be plural, although it is less common.)
The
owners don’t want to overlook any opportunity to make a buck .
Why
not make a buck doing it ?
The
movie is about a group of men just trying to make a buck .
I
think people go out to make a quick buck without worrying about the consequences.
He did
n’t really care about the business — he just wanted to make a fast buck .
Tom is
always ready to make a fast buck .
I made
a quick buck selling used cars.
I just want to make a buck .
Simple? Now just write down some of the examples in Anki and move on to the next post… there’s a universe of them waiting for you, as always
