make hay while the sun shines
verbEtymology Hay harvest can be spoiled by wet weather. It is important that farmers seize the opportunity of dry weather for haymaking tasks (cutting, drying, gathering), more so in medieval times, when forecasting the weather was more difficult. Attested since 1546, originally a Tudor expression, and used figuratively since 1673.
1
Idiomatic To act while an opportunity exists; to take action while a situation is favorable.
- Near-synonym: grasp the nettle
- Until the mid-2010s, the ROSCOs 'made hay while the sun shone', taking advantage of growing passenger demand and expanding services to find homes for their rolling assets - in some cases, well beyond their expected design lives.2023 June 28, Ben Jones, “Are we getting rid of our (still useful) rolling stock too early?”, in RAIL, number 986, page 28:
2
Agriculture, Business, Lifestyle To make hay during favourable (dry) weather.