gang·bus·ter

(găng′bŭs′tər)

n. Slang

A law enforcement officer who works to break up organized criminal groups.

adj. also gangbusters

Extremely successful: an experiment yielding gangbuster results; a profitable, gangbusters quarter.

Idiom:

like gangbusters Slang

With great impact, vigor, or zeal: came on like gangbusters at the start of his campaign; a career that took off like gangbusters.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

gangbusters

(ˈɡæŋbʌstəz)

pl n

very energetically and aggressively

adv

to perform strongly

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Translations

gangbusters

[ˈgæŋbʌstəz] NPL (US) to be going gangbusters → ir viento en popa
to do sth like gangbusters → hacer algo con paso firme

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

"Impact 100 is taking off like gangbusters. The first chapter was started in 2001 in Cincinnati.

WHY I CARE: Jane Watt harnessed the power of collective philanthropy to create Impact 100 SRQ

He sold ice cream in Elgin for two weeks -- sales were gangbusters, he said -- until police stopped him and told him about the ban.

Will Elgin end ice cream truck ban?

Summary: The Norwegian film adds credible writing and effective acting to gangbusters special effects

'The Wave' shows how to make a disaster film

"We might go up there and we might play like gangbusters up there," Bryant said Sunday in Los Angeles.

Warriors eye record start vs Lakers

The Wall Street scribes were blaming weak earnings reports, but the one we listened in on, Comcast/NBCU, was gangbusters. For that reason, you'd think broadcast stocks would get a pass -- but they didn't.

Another Bad Day on the Street

That's still steep, but less so when you consider that Facebook is growing like gangbusters, with its revenue for 2014's first quarter up 72 percent year-over-year (to $2.5 billion) and earnings nearly tripling.

A stock for risk-takers

"He is coming on like gangbusters, baby!'' said Brooks.

Price is right for Klitschko; Boxer Shorts

"We're getting job creation, but it's not gangbusters job creation," said Paul Turek, a labor economist with the Employment Security Department, in a news release.

Washington's unemployment rate at 6.3 percent in March

The big news out of Denver this week was that craft is going to get a lot bigger, and not just because it is growing like gangbusters. Craft is going to get bigger because the board of the Brewers Association has decided to redraw its criteria on what a craft beer is.

New BA craft definition will add regional brewers