wait for (one's) ship to come in
(redirected from she has waited for her boat to come in)wait for (one's) ship to come in
To wait for, desire, or anticipate a time at which one becomes wealthy or successful. I have big plans to move to New York City—I'm just waiting for my ship to come in. If you're an artist and your biggest motivation is waiting for your ship to come in, then I think you've got your priorities in the wrong order.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
ship to come in, wait for one's
Wait for one’s fortune to be made. Also put as when my ship comes in, both expressions allude to the sixteenth-century merchant ship returning home, laden with rich cargo and thus enriching the owners. Shakespeare referred to such ships in The Merchant of Venice. The terms began to be used figuratively during the 1800s and long survived the decline of merchant shipping, but they are heard less often today and may be dying out. “Perhaps we may manage it some time. When our ship comes in,” wrote Miss Mulock (John Halifax, 1857). Erskine Caldwell also used it several times in God’s Little Acre (1933), as in, “I’ll know doggone well [when] my ship has come in.”
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
- wait for (one's) boat to come in
- (one's) ship comes in
- (one's) boat comes in
- marry into money
- be born with a silver spoon in (one's) mouth
- be born with a silver spoon in your mouth
- born with a silver spoon in (one's) mouth
- born with a silver spoon in his or her mouth
- born with a silver spoon in mouth
- born with a silver spoon in your mouth