hit pay dirt

verb

To strike it rich; to get lucky or have a big break.

“With his third novel he finally hit pay dirt and wrote a bestseller.”

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Meanings

verbhit pay dirt (third-person singular simple present hits pay dirt, present participle hitting pay dirt, simple past and past participle hit pay dirt)

present singular third person hits pay dirt · participle present hitting pay dirt · alternative hit paydirt

  1. idiomaticinformalTo strike it rich; to get lucky or have a big break.

    With his third novel he finally hit pay dirt and wrote a bestseller.

    1 more example

    But after moving to New York, he soon found success on the stage, beginning with a small role in Tall Story (1959), and within a few years hit pay dirt as a newly wed in Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park on Broadway.

    2025 September 20, Nicolas Rapold, “Obituary: Robert Redford”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 6
Cite this entry
APA

hit pay dirt. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hit%20pay%20dirt

MLA

“hit pay dirt.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hit%20pay%20dirt. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hit pay dirt,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hit%20pay%20dirt.

Source: hit pay dirt on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.