to sell like hot cakes
1
3.3
- idiom
- Informal
:
vender como pan caliente
- This stuff sells like hot cakes!
Examples
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Mirrorless FF will sell like hot cakes.
Blog text (7) -
Adventure, sex... you put that in your book, it'll sell like hot cakes.
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I'm a self-published author whose books are selling like hot cakes.
Blog text (5) -
Even back in 2010, when HTC was selling like hot cakes, they were having problems sourcing components.
Blog text (27) -
This is especially true for powerful mobile phones that support app use and installation, such as smartphones and iPhones, which sell like hot cakes today.
Blog text (34) -
Inside, Linda Lovelace had sold only 600 copies before the trial, but 600,000 sold like hot cakes within a fortnight of the verdict.
Academic text (2010) -
For example, anything that helps people with SEO (get traffic, build links) sells like hot cakes, so all you would need to do is have a look at the top-selling apps from the last few weeks, and you are going to get a ton of ideas.
Blog text (20) -
This new smartphone model sells like hot cakes due to its impressive features.
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The concert tickets sold like hot cakes within minutes after going on sale.
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During the holidays, these handmade ornaments sell like hot cakes at local markets.
Synonyms
7
3.9
To sell very quickly because many people want it
1
7.2
Many people buy it very quickly
To sell very quickly in large numbers
Antonyms
How Fast
7
3.9
- Informal
1
3.3
- Informal
1
7.2
57
3.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'sell' combined with the simile 'like hot cakes' gives a compositional clue that something is sold as readily as hot cakes, so there is a surface clue to fast/high-volume sales. However, the comparison depends on cultural/world knowledge that 'hot cakes' are sold quickly and therefore may not be fully predictable to a B1 learner who only knows the literal words; similar pastry-based similes exist in other languages, making the phrase partially inferable but not fully transparent.
Etymology
Sell like hot cakes comes from a simple picture: at fairs and markets, freshly cooked hot cakes were so warm and tasty that people rushed to buy them and they were gone quickly. So, the phrase now means 'to be bought quickly and in large numbers' or 'to be very popular'.