Dictionary

catch a wave en · VERB

Meanings

1. To mount one's surfboard at a distance from shore, turn it toward land, and control it for a successful, satisfying ride on inrushing water.
   • Like surfers trying to catch a wave, balloonists try to ride jet streams. 1999 March 29, Nadya Labi, “Around the World in a Balloon in 20 Days”, in Time, retrieved 04 Apr 2020:
   • As anyone who has ever caught a wave on her own knows, surfing is a profound confidence booster. 2015 May 10, Ondine Cohane, “A Small Child, a Big Board, on Oahu’s North Shore”, in New York Times, retrieved 04 Apr 2020:
2. (broadly, idiomatic) To derive benefit from a fortunate opportunity; to experience a sudden increase in energy or luck.
   • The size of his fortune, he said, revealed only that "we caught a wave. We were lucky. We had more luck than we deserved." 1997 January 23, David Cay Johnston, “A Man Who Repaid His Debts”, in New York Times, retrieved 04 Apr 2020:
   • He did have one brief spell in the second set when he seemed to catch a wave, pounding his backhand and winning 11 of 14 points. 2015 November 8, Simon Briggs, “Andy Murray brushed aside by increasingly dominant Novak Djokovic in Paris Masters final”, in Telegraph, UK, retrieved 04 Apr 2020:

Forms

Relateds

ride the wave