gangbusters

The adjective and adverb are a shortening of the phrase like gangbusters.

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gangbusters

1. plural of gangbuster

• like gangbusters

gangbusters

1. (colloquial, UK) Very successful or profitable.
   • 2011 September 15, Cath Clarke, “Turnout – review”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     What went wrong for Ophelia Lovibond? It was all looking gangbusters after a string of entry-level Hollywood roles.

gangbusters (not comparable)

1. (colloquial) With great energy or speed; very well. [from 20th c.]

   to go gangbusters

   • 2015 July 13, “Monday’s best TV”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     This follows Llewelyn-Bowen on a promotional parade through China, his hopes resting largely on the basis that his British quirkiness will go gangbusters with Shanghai shoppers.

   • 2016, Steve Coogan, Neil Gibbons & Rob Gibbons, Alan Partridge: Nomad, page 46:

     Clearly this is a moment tailor-made for the front crawl, but I can't do front crawl so instead I opt to skull, the swan-like grace of my upper body belying the fact that under the water my legs are going absolutely gangbusters.

   • 2018 October 21, Jeffrey Lewis, quotee, “Trump says US will withdraw from nuclear arms treaty with Russia”, in The Guardian‎^[3]:

     I doubt very much that the US will deploy much that would have been prohibited by the treaty. Russia, though, will go gangbusters.

   • 2022 February 4, Manori Ravindran, “Signature Entertainment Brings West Ham United Owner David Sullivan Back Into the Fold, Expands Production Might”, in Variety‎^[4]:

     The latter, a niche series of British gangster movies, isn’t exactly a critical darling, but has a rabid fanbase, with each title doing gangbusters for Signature in home entertainment and streaming.

   • 2024 December 5, Madhumita Murgia, quoting Dario Amodei, “Anthropic’s Dario Amodei: Democracies must maintain the lead in AI”, in Financial Times‎^[5]:

     The position that we should go gangbusters and use it to make anything we want — up to and including doomsday weapons — that’s obviously just as crazy. We’re trying to seek the middle ground, to do things responsibly.