catflap.org Online Dictionary Query

  Come \Come\, v. i. [imp. Came; p. p. Come; p. pr & vb. n.
     Coming.] [OE. cumen, comen, AS. cuman; akin to OS. kuman,
     D. komen, OHG. queman, G. kommen, Icel. koma, Sw. komma, Dan.
     komme, Goth. giman, L. venire (gvenire), Gr. ? to go, Skr.
     gam. [root]23. Cf. Base, n., Convene, Adventure.]
     1. To move hitherward; to draw near; to approach the speaker,
        or some place or person indicated; -- opposed to go.
  
              Look, who comes yonder?               --Shak.
  
              I did not come to curse thee.         --Tennyson.
  
     2. To complete a movement toward a place; to arrive.
  
              When we came to Rome.                 --Acts xxviii.
                                                    16.
  
              Lately come from Italy.               --Acts xviii.
                                                    2.
  
     3. To approach or arrive, as if by a journey or from a
        distance. ``Thy kingdom come.'' --Matt. vi. 10.
  
              The hour is coming, and now is.       --John. v. 25.
  
              So quick bright things come to confusion. --Shak.
  
     4. To approach or arrive, as the result of a cause, or of the
        act of another.
  
              From whence come wars?                --James iv. 1.
  
              Both riches and honor come of thee !  --1 Chron.
                                                    xxix. 12.
  
     5. To arrive in sight; to be manifest; to appear.
  
              Then butter does refuse to come.      --Hudibras.
  
     6. To get to be, as the result of change or progress; -- with
        a predicate; as, to come untied.
  
              How come you thus estranged?          --Shak.
  
              How come her eyes so bright?          --Shak.
  
     Note: Am come, is come, etc., are frequently used instead of
           have come, has come, etc., esp. in poetry. The verb to
           be gives a clearer adjectival significance to the
           participle as expressing a state or condition of the
           subject, while the auxiliary have expresses simply the
           completion of the action signified by the verb.
  
                 Think not that I am come to destroy. --Matt. v.
                                                    17.
  
                 We are come off like Romans.       --Shak.
  
                 The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the
                 year.                              --Bryant.
  
     Note: Come may properly be used (instead of go) in speaking
           of a movement hence, or away, when there is reference
           to an approach to the person addressed; as, I shall
           come home next week; he will come to your house to-day.
           It is used with other verbs almost as an auxiliary,
           indicative of approach to the action or state expressed
           by the verb; as, how came you to do it? Come is used
           colloquially, with reference to a definite future time
           approaching, without an auxiliary; as, it will be two
           years, come next Christmas; i. e., when Christmas shall
           come.
  
                 They were cried In meeting, come next Sunday.
                                                    --Lowell.
           Come, in the imperative, is used to excite attention,
           or to invite to motion or joint action; come, let us
           go. ``This is the heir; come, let us kill him.''
           --Matt. xxi. 38. When repeated, it sometimes expresses
           haste, or impatience, and sometimes rebuke. ``Come,
           come, no time for lamentation now.'' --Milton.
  
     To come, yet to arrive, future. ``In times to come.''
        --Dryden. ``There's pippins and cheese to come.'' --Shak.
  
     To come about.
        (a) To come to pass; to arrive; to happen; to result; as,
            how did these things come about?
        (b) To change; to come round; as, the ship comes about.
            ``The wind is come about.'' --Shak.
  
                  On better thoughts, and my urged reasons, They
                  are come about, and won to the true side. --B.
                                                    Jonson.
  
     To come abroad.
        (a) To move or be away from one's home or country. ``Am
            come abroad to see the world.'' --Shak.
        (b) To become public or known. [Obs.] ``Neither was
            anything kept secret, but that it should come
            abroad.'' --Mark. iv. 22.
  
     To come across, to meet; to find, esp. by chance or
        suddenly. ``We come across more than one incidental
        mention of those wars.'' --E. A. Freeman. ``Wagner's was
        certainly one of the strongest and most independent
        natures I ever came across.'' --H. R. Haweis.
  
     To come after.
        (a) To follow.
        (b) To come to take or to obtain; as, to come after a
            book.
  
     To come again, to return. ``His spirit came again and he
        revived.'' --Judges. xv. 19. - 
  
     To come and go.
        (a) To appear and disappear; to change; to alternate.
            ``The color of the king doth come and go.'' --Shak.
        (b) (Mech.) To play backward and forward.
  
     To come at.
        (a) To reach; to arrive within reach of; to gain; as, to
            come at a true knowledge of ourselves.
        (b) To come toward; to attack; as, he came at me with
            fury.
  
     To come away, to part or depart.
  
     To come between, to intervene; to separate; hence, to cause
        estrangement.
  
     To come by.
        (a) To obtain, gain, acquire. ``Examine how you came by
            all your state.'' --Dryden.
        (b) To pass near or by way of.
  
     To come down.
        (a) To descend.
        (b) To be humbled.
  
     To come down upon, to call to account, to reprimand.
        [Colloq.] --Dickens.
  
     To come home.
        (a) To return to one's house or family.
        (b) To come close; to press closely; to touch the
            feelings, interest, or reason.
        (c) (Naut.) To be loosened from the ground; -- said of an
            anchor.
  
     To come in.
        (a) To enter, as a town, house, etc. ``The thief cometh
            in.'' --Hos. vii. 1.
        (b) To arrive; as, when my ship comes in.
        (c) To assume official station or duties; as, when Lincoln
            came in.
        (d) To comply; to yield; to surrender. ``We need not fear
            his coming in'' --Massinger.
        (e) To be brought into use. ``Silken garments did not come
            in till late.'' --Arbuthnot.
        (f) To be added or inserted; to be or become a part of.
        (g) To accrue as gain from any business or investment.
        (h) To mature and yield a harvest; as, the crops come in
            well.
        (i) To have sexual intercourse; -- with to or unto. --Gen.
            xxxviii. 16.
        (j) To have young; to bring forth; as, the cow will come
            in next May. [U. S.]
  
     To come in for, to claim or receive. ``The rest came in for
        subsidies.'' --Swift.
  
     To come into, to join with; to take part in; to agree to;
        to comply with; as, to come into a party or scheme.
  
     To come it over, to hoodwink; to get the advantage of.
        [Colloq.]
  
     To come near or nigh, to approach in place or quality; to
        be equal to. ``Nothing ancient or modern seems to come
        near it.'' --Sir W. Temple.
  
     To come of.
        (a) To descend or spring from. ``Of Priam's royal race my
            mother came.'' --Dryden.
        (b) To result or follow from. ``This comes of judging by
            the eye.'' --L'Estrange.
  
     To come off.
        (a) To depart or pass off from.
        (b) To get free; to get away; to escape.
        (c) To be carried through; to pass off; as, it came off
            well.
        (d) To acquit one's self; to issue from (a contest, etc.);
            as, he came off with honor; hence, substantively, a
            come-off, an escape; an excuse; an evasion. [Colloq.]
        (e) To pay over; to give. [Obs.]
        (f) To take place; to happen; as, when does the race come
            off?
        (g) To be or become after some delay; as, the weather came
            off very fine.
        (h) To slip off or be taken off, as a garment; to
            separate.
        (i) To hurry away; to get through. --Chaucer.
  
     To come off by, to suffer. [Obs.] ``To come off by the
        worst.'' --Calamy.
  
     To come off from, to leave. ``To come off from these grave
        disquisitions.'' --Felton.
  
     To come on.
        (a) To advance; to make progress; to thrive.
        (b) To move forward; to approach; to supervene.
  
     To come out.
        (a) To pass out or depart, as from a country, room,
            company, etc. ``They shall come out with great
            substance.'' --Gen. xv. 14.
        (b) To become public; to appear; to be published. ``It is
            indeed come out at last.'' --Bp. Stillingfleet.
        (c) To end; to result; to turn out; as, how will this
            affair come out? he has come out well at last.
        (d) To be introduced into society; as, she came out two
            seasons ago.
        (e) To appear; to show itself; as, the sun came out.
        (f) To take sides; to take a stand; as, he came out
            against the tariff.