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

The thing may or may not turn up trumps, but in any case I have made an effort to spare a little money to buy some of the shares.

From A Very Naughty Girl by Meade, L. T.

"What a brick you are, Mabel, I knew you would turn up trumps about it."

From To Love by Peterson, Margaret

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