bonanza U.S. colloq.
(bə(ʊ)ˈnænzə, bəʊˈnænsə)
[Sp.; = fair weather, prosperity, f. L. bon-us good.]
1. (See quot. 1881. The bonanza mines par excellence were the great silver ones on the Comstock lode. See Sat. Rev. 31 July 1866.) Also fig.
| [1842 ‘A. T. Myrthe’ Ambrosio de Letinez II. 127 This was what Mexicans term a bonanza.] 1844 J. Gregg Commerce of Prairies I. 170 When the Placer was in its greatest bonanza—yielding very large profits to those engaged in the business. 1847 G. F. Ruxton Adv. Mexico xi. 79 The..famous black vein of Sombrerete yielded the greatest bonanzas of any mine on the continent of America. 1875 Scribner's Mag. July 272 But a bonanza with ‘millions in it’ is not struck every week. 1878 N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 12 The ‘boss’, the ‘railroad king’, and the bonanza Crœsus. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Bonanza, in miners' phrase, good luck, or a body of rich ore. A mine is in bonanza when it is profitably producing ore. 1892 Stevenson & Osbourne Wrecker ix. 139 It's not a bonanza, but there's boodle in it; we'll try it on. 1955 Bull. Atomic Sci. Mar. 88/2 At the time Steen's diamond-core drill struck the bonanza, he was financially hard-pressed. 1963 Listener 10 Jan. 98/3 The show is still, as topical entertainment, a real bonanza. |
| fig. 1878 R. Taylor in N. Amer. Rev. CXXVI. 239 If silence be golden, he was a ‘bonanza’. 1883 Harper's Mag. Nov. 940/1 This..company..proved..a bonanza to its stockholders. |
2. attrib., as in
bonanza farm, a farm which is a ‘mine of wealth’; one on a large scale with all modern scientific appliances; so
bonanza farmer.
| 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 79 The bonanza farms of America, where every kind of agricultural process is accomplished by steam. 1884 Lisbon (Dakota) Star 27 June, One of Ransom county's bonanza farmers. |