to wait for one's ship to come in
1
8.4
- idiom
- Informal
:
esperar que llegue la oportunidad
- Many people spend their lives waiting for their ship to come in without taking any action.
Examples
-
He decided to start a business instead of just waiting for his ship to come in.
-
Always waiting for his ship to come in.
-
- You think I'm gonna wait for my ship to come in?
-
After years of hard work, she stopped waiting for her ship to come in and created her own opportunities.
Synonyms
522
3.2
To wait for something with hope or excitement
23
7.4
To wait patiently for the right time to act
11
5.8
To be ready to take a job or role when a chance comes
Wait for a good chance before acting
Antonyms
How Hopeful
- Informal
1
8.4
- Informal
- Informal
5
6.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
wait + for + one + ship + to + come + in
Although the literal words ('wait', 'ship', 'come in') could be combined to mean waiting for a vessel to arrive, the phrase's actual meaning—waiting for a fortuitous opportunity or financial windfall—is a metaphorical extension that is not directly derivable from the constituents and relies on cultural/figurative knowledge. An average B1 learner who knows the individual words would likely interpret this literally or fail to infer the idiomatic sense without prior exposure, so it should be considered opaque.
Etymology
The idiom wait for one's ship to come in may come from the simple image of a sailor standing at the port waiting for a ship to come in with goods or money. That's why it means 'to wait patiently for a big chance or money'.