when my ship comes home
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
When my fortune is made. The allusion is to the argosies returning from foreign parts laden with rich freights, and so enriching the merchants who sent them forth.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “when my ship comes home” mean?
When my fortune is made. The allusion is to the argosies returning from foreign parts laden with rich freights, and so enriching the merchants who sent them forth.
Is “when my ship comes home” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.