From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
1. Anything blown down or off by the wind, as fruit from a tree, or the tree itself, or a portion of a forest prostrated by a violent wind, etc. ''They became a windfall upon the sudden.'' --Bacon.
2. An unexpected legacy, or other gain.
He had a mighty windfall out of doubt. --B. Jonson.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: fruit that has fallen from the tree
2: a sudden happening that brings good fortune (as a sudden opportunity to make money); "the demand for testing has created a boom for those unregulated laboratories where boxes of specimen jars are processed lik an assembly line" [syn: {boom}, {bonanza}, {gold rush}, {gravy}, {godsend}, {manna from heaven}, {bunce}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
29 Moby Thesaurus words for "windfall": boast, bonus, buried treasure, catch, diamond, discovery, find, finding, foundling, gem, godsend, good thing, gravy, jewel, pearl, plum, pride, pride and joy, prize, treasure, treasure trove, trophy, trouvaille, trove, waifs, waifs and strays, windfall money, windfall profit, winner
From U.S. Gazetteer (1990) [gazetteer]:
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