king of the hill

K

king of the hill (US)
king of the castle (UK)

Meaning

• be the undisputed champion
• be the leader in your chosen field
• children’s game
• person in charge
• a successful person

Example Sentences

1. He made £3 million before he was 30, so he is the king of the hill in this industry.
2. She waited years for her novel to be printed, and now someone has bought the film rights, so she’s the king of the hill finally.
3. It’s going to be hard to beat the reigning kings of the hill. They are invincible.
4. Jack fell over when they were playing king of the hill at school today. He’s got a big purple bruise on his knee.
5. It seems like Mo Farah is the king of the castle so far with a huge £300k pay packet before the show has even started.
6. The two-top set of bidders competing to see who should be king of the castle and who the dirty rascal.

Origin

This is a playground game for children. One child stands on top of a small hill and attempts to keep the spot for themselves by repelling the advances of other children, whose primary goal is to win the spot for themselves.

Usually, in the UK the child who is currently king chants:

“I’m the king of the castle and, you’re a dirty rascal.”

The King of the Hill is also a long-running, Emmy award-winning animated TV series in the US.

Expert, Game, Success