silver lining

An element of hope or a redeeming quality in an otherwise bad situation, as in The rally had a disappointing turnout, but the silver lining was that those who came pledged a great deal of money . This metaphoric term is a shortening of Every cloud has a silver lining, in turn derived from John Milton's Comus (1634): "A sable cloud turns forth its silver lining on the night."

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Debdas	-	Bengali
Ermolai	-	Russian
DaphnÉ	-	French
Columbine	KAHL-əm-bien	English (Rare)
Bernie	['bə:ni]
Flavia	FLAH-vyah (Italian, Spanish)	Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Ancient Roman