strike gold

present singular third person strikes gold · participle present striking gold · past struck gold · participle past struck gold · archaic participle past rare stricken gold

1. informalTo be lucky, to win or be successful.

   Michele S. is one in a long line of Progressive Jackpot players to strike gold at Lucky Nugget Online Casino

   2003, “Wife Winds $872,884.09 at Online Casino”, in Weekly World News

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   Danny Manning and Edwin Moses quickly come to mind for fans who want American athletes to strike gold this summer.

   1988, Douglas C. Lyons, “What to expect in Seoul”, in Ebony

   Shopping for jewelry is just like finding love: When the right one comes along, you'll know it. What follows is a list of sources where buyers are most likely to strike gold.

   1995, “Holiday Glitter”, in New York Magazine

   Two weeks ago, he struck gold: Docugami secured access to the computing power it needed through a government program called Access, which is run by the National Science Foundation, a federal agency that funds science and engineering.

   2023 August 16, Erin Griffith, “The Desperate Hunt for the A.I. Boom’s Most Indispensable Prize”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see strike, gold (to find gold).

   “And how did he make his money?” “In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds.”

   1892 [April], A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. X.—The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor.”, in Geo[rge] Newnes, editor, The Strand Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, volume III (January to June), number [16], London: George Newnes, Limited, […], page 390, column 2

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   Jim Cleve had gone to an unfrequented part of the gulch, for no particular reason, and here he had located his claim. The very first day he struck gold.

   1916, Zane Grey, chapter 14, in The Border Legion