Learn English – What does it mean by “book has legs”

idioms

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I really don't get it by reading weird lines.

Suddenly the book has legs and Cavendish is rolling in money from
royalties.

What does it mean by "book has legs"?

Best Answer

Macmillan has a dictionary entry that explains this quite well:

legs (pl. n.) the ability of a product, advertisement, idea, book etc. to continue to be successful and interest people for a long time

So it means the book had sudden success and popularity. I suppose one could say something similar about Rowling's Harry Potter series.

I can see why this would be tricky if you aren't familiar with the expression. It's a figurative expression; the idea is that legs can carry something for some distance.

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