turn up trumps

Idioms  

1. End well, succeed, as in Some brief courtships and hasty marriages turn up trumps. This expression alludes to card games in which trump cards are superior to cards of other suits. [Late 1700s]

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Example Sentences

But the difficulty with manipulating reality and civil lists thus is that scenarios can turn bad as well as turn up trumps.

From The Guardian • Aug. 25, 2012

King Edward, who looked remarkably like Clement Freud, was an unexpected smash hit, the cheering implication being that you-know-who may turn up trumps.

From The Guardian • Mar. 24, 2010

I always believed that he would turn up trumps, and make my fortune as well as his own.

From The Stark Munro Letters by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir

Of course my idea of a secret marriage was at the best only a plausible hypothesis; and I hardly dared to hug myself with the hope that it might turn up trumps.

From Birds of Prey by Braddon, M. E. (Mary Elizabeth)

All precious things, discovered late, To those who seek them turn up trumps.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 101, December 26, 1891 by Various