Idiom
make hay while the sun shines
Meaning
To act while an opportunity exists; to take action while a situation is favorable.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Prices are low now, so make hay while the sun shines.”
“The store is busy during the holiday season, so we should make hay while the sun shines and increase our sales.”
“Recognizing that the current market conditions were temporary, the investors decided to make hay while the sun shines by expanding their portfolio before the economy slowed down.”
Examples
simple
“Prices are low now, so make hay while the sun shines.”
contextual
“The store is busy during the holiday season, so we should make hay while the sun shines and increase our sales.”
complex
“Recognizing that the current market conditions were temporary, the investors decided to make hay while the sun shines by expanding their portfolio before the economy slowed down.”
Origin
16th-century English farming proverb (Heywood, 1546): cut hay must dry in the sun, so farmers worked while the weather held.
Key words
Related idioms
- Level
- B1 · Intermediate
- Updated