Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An occupation or other source of income that requires little effort while yielding considerable profit.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun idiomatic An
occupation or anylucrative endeavor that generates considerableincome whilst requiring littleeffort and carrying littlerisk . - noun idiomatic, politics A
gorging onluxuries , since someone else foots the bill.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun income obtained with a minimum of effort
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
The word gravy by itself was used prior to any attestable use of gravy train to characterise 'cushy' situations. It is a shortening of the phrase riding the gravy train, rather than train referring to a number of individuals going the same way or a way of teaching people.
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Examples
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sonofgroucho commented on the word gravy train
This conjures up a rather bizarre image for me.
November 24, 2007
mollusque commented on the word gravy train
Why's that, SonofGroucho? How do you lade your gravy boats?
November 24, 2007
seanahan commented on the word gravy train
And did we tell you the name of the game, boy?
We call it riding the gravy train.
November 25, 2007