the.com/windfall
luck that falls into your lap because something else couldn't hold on
means An unexpected piece of good fortune, especially a sudden gain of money you didn't earn or plan for.
from Literally fruit or branches blown down from trees by the wind. In old English forests, much standing timber belonged to the crown or the landlord, but wood the wind knocked loose was fair game for ordinary folk to gather — free fuel and lumber that nobody had to fell or pay for. From that gift of weather the word stretched, by the 1500s, to mean any unlooked-for stroke of luck dropping into your hands.
- origin
- literally fruit knocked from trees by wind
- forest law
- once the only wood commoners could legally take
- economics
- a windfall tax grabs unearned corporate luck
- psychology
- unexpected money gets spent faster than earned money
apple tax ruling — ireland ordered apple to pay €13 billion in back taxes in 2016, an unexpected financial windfall for the government
north sea oil discovery — uk's unexpected petroleum reserves in the 1970s transformed the economy and government revenues
california gold rush — 1848 discovery of gold in sutter's mill created sudden wealth for thousands of prospectors