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windfall - 6 dictionary results

wind⋅fall

  [wind-fawl]
Use windfall in a Sentence
–noun
1. an unexpected gain, piece of good fortune, or the like.
2. something blown down by the wind, as fruit.
–adjective
3. accruing in unexpectedly large amounts: windfall profits.
Origin:
1425–75; late ME; see wind 1 , fall
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To windfall
wind·fall   (wĭnd'fôl')   
n.  
  1. A sudden, unexpected piece of good fortune or personal gain.
  2. Something, such as a ripened fruit, that has been blown down by the wind.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Windfall

Wind"fall`\, n. 1. Anything blown down or off by the wind, as fruit from a tree, or the tree itself, or a portion of a forest prostrated by a violent wind, etc. "They became a windfall upon the sudden." --Bacon.

2. An unexpected legacy, or other gain.

He had a mighty windfall out of doubt. --B. Jonson.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : windfall
Spanish: fruta caída,
German: das Fallobst,
Japanese: 風で落ちた果実
More Translations »

windfall

An unexpected profit from a business or other source. The term connotes gaining huge profits without working for them — for example, when oil companies profit from a temporary scarcity of oil.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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windfall 
1464, from wind (n.) + fall. Originally literal, in ref. to wood or fruit blown down by the wind, and thus free to all. Fig. sense of "unexpected acquisition" is recorded from 1542.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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windfall

An unexpected profit or gain. An investor holding a stock that increases greatly in price because of an unexpected takeover offer receives a windfall.

Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms by David L. Scott.
Copyright © 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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