strike gold

As success in a gold rush was measured by whether gold was found.

strike gold (third-person singular simple present strikes gold, present participle striking gold, simple past struck gold, past participle struck gold or (rare) stricken gold)

1. (literally) To find gold.
   • 1892 , A Conan Doyle, “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. X.—The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor.”, in Geo Newnes, editor, The Strand Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, volume III (January to June), number , London: George Newnes, Limited, , page 390, column 2:

     “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.”

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

     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.

2. (informal) To be lucky, to win or be successful.
   • 1988, Douglas C. Lyons, “What to expect in Seoul”, in Ebony:

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

   • 1995, “Holiday Glitter”, in New York Magazine‎:

     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.

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

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

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

     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.

• strike oil

• “strike gold”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “strike gold”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “strike gold” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “strike gold” (US) / “strike gold” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.