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mile a minute, a

mile a minute, a idiom

Very rapidly, as in She was talking a mile a minute about the accident. This expression, alluding to the literal speed of 60 miles per hour, dates from the mid-1900s, when that speed was considered very fast, but it has survived into times of much greater velocity.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.