windfall

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an unexpected gain, advantage, or piece of good fortune, especially a sum of money

   The inheritance was a windfall that allowed her to repay every debt.

2. 2
   noun

   fruit, timber, or another object brought down by the wind

   They collected windfall apples from beneath the trees.

From Middle English windfal, a compound of wind and fall. It first referred to wood or fruit blown down by wind, which could legally or practically be an unexpected benefit; from that developed the modern sense of sudden good fortune.

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