Meaning
To achieve a sudden, striking success or gain, especially an unexpected windfall: winning a major prize, landing a huge contract, or getting a remarkably good outcome of any kind. Informal and upbeat; the literal gambling use, winning the top payout on a slot machine or lottery, survives alongside it. Informal and celebratory; standard in gambling contexts and freely transferred to any big win. Regional use: General English (originally American).
Origin
From nineteenth-century draw poker. In the variant called jack pots, introduced around 1870 according to the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica article cited by Etymonline, the pot could be opened only by a player holding a pair of jacks or better, so when nobody qualified the stakes carried over and the pot grew unusually large. Etymonline dates the poker term in print to 1881; by 1902 'jackpot' was criminal slang for trouble or an arrest, and the word was applied to the top payout on slot machines by 1932, generalising to 'big prize' by 1944. The figurative verb phrase is dated to 1938 by Etymonline, while Merriam-Webster's wordplay column cites figurative examples from the 1940s, including 'The Vick's Vapor had indeed hit the jack-pot'. The poker lineage itself is well documented; only the fine dating of the figurative idiom varies slightly between references.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- win the jackpot
Usage Examples
- The bakery hit the jackpot when a celebrity posted a photo of its cinnamon rolls.
- Researchers at the lab felt they had hit the jackpot with the third sample, which showed exactly the signature they needed.
- He hit the jackpot at a yard sale, paying two dollars for a first-edition print.