trouvaille

American  

[troo-vee] / tru vi /

noun

1. French. a lucky discovery or a found treasure.

   The researcher described her experience finding a long-lost Sappho poem as the trouvaille of a lifetime.

   The flea market has plenty of junk, but there are always some veritable trouvailles: art, antiques, wood carvings, and far more.

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Example Sentences

She was evidently a valuable discovery, one of their new treasures, a rare trouvaille of the Mitchells.

From Love at Second Sight by Leverson, Ada

They were all very kind and enthusiastic, and talked eagerly to each other of a new star, a trouvaille.

From Christine by Cholmondeley, Alice

Horace Walpole, who sat near by, joined in the laugh and jeer as soon as he found that the "trouvaille," as he called it, "of his friend Chatterton" was in question.

From Oliver Goldsmith A Biography by Irving, Washington

I once found a summer duck's nest within a quarter of a mile of our house, but such a trouvaille would be impossible now as Kidd's treasure.

From My Garden Acquaintance by Lowell, James Russell

Of course, after such a trouvaille and such a subscription, he relished his breakfast exceedingly.

From A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume Two by Dibdin, Thomas Frognall