Idioms

like manna from heaven

like manna from heaven

Used to describe an unexpected benefit or assistance, especially when it comes at the time when it is needed most. The phrase is a reference to the Biblical story of the food that God miraculously provided to the Israelites as they wandered in the wilderness. I had no idea we would be getting a bonus this year, but it was like manna from heaven—just in time to pay some of my holiday bills. Having my family near me during this tragedy has been like manna from heaven for me.
See also: heaven, like, manna
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

manna from heaven, like

Any sudden or unexpected advantage or help. The word manna is used in the Bible, in Exodus (16:15), where it means a miraculous food that suddenly appears to succor the children of Israel on their journey from Egypt to the Holy Land. Exactly what it meant is no longer known, but it may have been a corruption of the Egyptian word mennu, the sweet, waxy exudation of the tamarisk tree. In English the term came to mean an unexpected welcome gift from heaven or some other benevolent source. It was already being used humorously in the early eighteenth century by Matthew Green (1696–1737), who wrote (in The Spleen), “Or to some coffeehouse I stray, for news, the manna of a day.”
See also: like, manna
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
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References in periodicals archive
T must have seemed like manna from heaven for Rob ISloane.
I wish I could remember the exact circumstances regarding my first exposure to MOTHER EARTH NEWS, but suffice it to say it was like manna from heaven. Armed with my new subscription, I tilled the soil, grew an organic garden, collected rainwater, pruned trees, and constructed a cold frame, greenhouse, chicken coop and storage sheds.
In the flagship shop, located appropriately off a narrow cobblestone lane, my selection of brown slides were dropped by a clerk from the second floor overhang like manna from heaven. Inside, Martha Muniz a.k.a.
And the three points were like manna from heaven for Laws, who has been walking a managerial tightrope.
It came like manna from heaven. The prospect of 2,200 jobs for the region's offshore workers is the best of starts to 2007.
Just the idea of information exploding from the sky, like manna from heaven, has a mythical side.
Ty Gwyn special school in Penylan and Greenhill in Rhiwbina have been in desperate need of repairs for years and the prospect of a purpose-built new school must seem like manna from heaven for staff and parents.
The hospital, which has now been forced to back down, had forbidden patients from eating the jam tarts and Victoria sponge cakes being handed around the wards (which must have seemed like manna from Heaven after crap hospital food) because they hadn't had the chance to inspect the WI's kitchens to check if they're clean.
Post-shaving skin can be dry and sensitive, so super-rich moisturisers are like manna from heaven to freshly shaved skin.
To the people of Dallas, where he is the sixth superintendent in a tumultuous five years, this tried-and-true Texan and former state education commissioner is like manna from heaven.
His argument that the UK should emulate prosperous small independent European countries such as Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Denmark is like manna from heaven for Plaid Cymru members and supporters because, in constitutional terms, that is what we have been saying that Wales should aspire to for a very long time.
Leeches like these are like manna from heaven for the self-styled ambulance chasers, complaining how unfair life has been to these poor individuals and how their human rights have been contravened.
At the end of their presentation, members of the audience gave heartfelt messages of support, which fell like manna from heaven for the young people who had suffered so much.
His poem, 'Stop all the Clocks,' found a spot in the script and suddenly everyone fell upon it like manna from heaven.
If something happened to you and people said they were going to call the NAACP, it was like manna from heaven."
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