kʌm v. & n. --v.intr. (past
came;
past part. come) 1
move, be
brought towards, or
reach a
place thought of as
near or
familiar to
the speaker or hearer (come
and see
me;
shall we come to
your house?; the books
have come). 2 reach or be brought to a specified
situation or
result (you'll come to no
harm; have come to
believe it;
has come to be used wrongly; came
into prominence). 3 reach or
extend to a specified
point (the road comes
within a
mile of us). 4
traverse or
accomplish (with compl. : have come a long way). 5
occur,
happen;
become present
instead of
future (how
did you come to break your leg?). 6
take or
occupy a specified
position in
space or
time (it comes on the
third page; Nero came
after Claudius; it
does not come within the scope of the inquiry). 7 become
perceptible or
known (the
church came into
sight; the
news comes as a
surprise; it will come to me). 8 be
available (the
dress comes in
three sizes;
this model comes
with optional features). 9 become (with compl. : the
handle has come loose). 10 (foll. by of) a be descended
from (comes of a
rich family). b be the result of (that comes of complaining). 11 colloq.
play the part
of;
behave like (with compl. : don't come the bully with me). 12 sl. have a
sexual orgasm. 13 (in subj.) colloq.
when a specified time is reached (come
next month). 14 (as int.) expressing
caution or
reserve (come, it
cannot be
that bad). --n. sl.
semen ejaculated at a sexual orgasm. øas ... as
they come typically or supremely so (is as
tough as they come). come
about happen; take place. come
across 1 be
effective or
understood. 2 (foll. by with) sl.
hand over what is wanted. 3 meet or
find by
chance (came across an
old jacket). come
again colloq. 1
make a
further effort. 2 (as imper.) what did you say? come
along 1 make
progress; move
forward. 2 (as imper.)
hurry up. come and go 1 pass to and
fro; be
transitory. 2 pay
brief visits. come
apart fall or break into pieces,
disintegrate. come at 1 reach,
discover;
get access to. 2
attack (came at me with a knife). come-at-able adj. reachable,
accessible. come
away 1 become detached or
broken off (came away in my hands). 2 (foll. by with) be left with a
feeling,
impression, etc. (came away with
many misgivings). come
back 1
return. 2
recur to one's
memory. 3 become
fashionable or
popular again. 4 US
reply, retort. come
before be
dealt with by (a
judge etc.). come
between 1
interfere with the
relationship of. 2
separate;
prevent contact between. come by 1 pass; go past. 2
call on a
visit (why not come by tomorrow?). 3
acquire,
obtain (came by a
new bicycle). come
clean see CLEAN. come down 1 come to a place or position regarded as lower. 2
lose position or
wealth (has come down in the world). 3 be handed down by
tradition or
inheritance. 4 be reduced;
show a
downward trend (prices are
coming down). 5 (foll. by
against, in
favour of) reach a
decision or recommendation (the
report came down against change). 6 (foll. by to)
signify or
betoken basically; be
dependent on (a factor) (it comes down to
who is
willing to go). 7 (foll. by on)
criticize harshly;
rebuke,
punish. 8 (foll. by with)
begin to
suffer from (a disease). come
for 1 come to collect or
receive. 2 attack (came for me with a hammer). come forward 1
advance. 2
offer oneself for a
task, post, etc. come-hither attrib.adj. colloq. (of a
look or manner) enticing, flirtatious. come in 1
enter a
house or
room. 2 take a specified position in a race etc. (came in third). 3 become fashionable or
seasonable. 4 a have a
useful role or
function. b (with compl.)
prove to be (came in
very handy). c have a part to play (where do I come in?). 5 be received (more news has
just come in). 6 begin
speaking,
esp. in
radio transmission. 7 be elected; come to
power. 8 Cricket begin an
innings. 9 (foll. by for) receive; be the
object of (usu.
something unwelcome) (came in for
much criticism). 10 (foll. by on)
join (an
enterprise etc.). 11 (of a tide)
turn to
high tide. 12 (of a
train,
ship, or aircraft)
approach its destination. come into 1 see senses 2, 7 of v. 2 receive, esp. as
heir. come near see NEAR. come of
age see AGE. come off 1 colloq. (of an action)
succeed; be
accomplished. 2 (with compl.)
fare; turn
out (came off
badly; came off the winner). 3
coarse sl. have a sexual orgasm. 4 be detached or detachable (from). 5 fall (from). 6 be reduced or subtracted from (ø5 came off the price). come off it (as imper.) colloq. an
expression of disbelief or
refusal to
accept another's
opinion,
behaviour, etc. come on 1
continue to come. 2 advance, esp. to attack. 3 make progress;
thrive (is
really coming on). 4 (foll. by to + infin.) begin (it came on to rain). 5
appear on the
stage,
field of play, etc. 6 be heard or
seen on
television, on the
telephone, etc. 7
arise to be discussed. 8 (as imper.) expressing encouragement. 9 = come
upon. come-on n. sl. a lure or enticement. come out 1
emerge; become known (it came out that he
had left). 2 appear or be published (comes out
every Saturday). 3 a
declare oneself; make a decision (came out in favour of joining). b
openly declare that
one is a
homosexual. 4
Brit. go on
strike. 5 a be satisfactorily
visible in a
photograph etc., or present in a specified
way (the
dog didn't come out; he came out badly). b (of a photograph) be produced satisfactorily or in a specified way (only three have come out; they
all came out well). 6
attain a specified result in an
examination etc. 7 (of a
stain etc.) be removed. 8 make one's
d÷but on stage or in
society. 9 (foll. by in) be covered with (came out in spots). 10 (of a problem) be solved. 11 (foll. by with) declare openly;
disclose. come over 1 come from
some distance or nearer to the speaker (came over from Paris; come over
here a moment). 2
change sides or one's opinion. 3 a (of a feeling etc.)
overtake or affect (a person). b colloq.
feel suddenly (came over faint). 4 appear or
sound in a specified way (you came over very well; the ideas came over clearly). 5 affect or
influence (I don't
know what came over me). come
round 1 pay an
informal visit. 2
recover consciousness. 3 be converted to
another person's opinion. 4 (of a date or
regular occurrence) recur; be
imminent again. come
through 1 be
successful;
survive. 2 be received by telephone. 3 survive or
overcome (a difficulty) (came through the ordeal). come to 1 recover consciousness. 2 Naut.
bring a
vessel to a
stop. 3 reach in
total;
amount to. 4 refl. a recover consciousness. b stop
being foolish. 5 have as a
destiny; reach (what is the
world coming to?). come to hand become available; be recovered. come to
light see
LIGHT(1). come to
nothing have no useful result in the
end;
fail. come to pass happen, occur. come to rest
cease moving. come to one's senses see
SENSE. come to that colloq. in
fact; if that is the case. come
under 1 be
classified as or
among. 2 be
subject to (influence or authority). come up 1 come to a place or position regarded as higher. 2 attain wealth or position (come up in the world ). 3 (of an
issue,
problem, etc.) arise; present
itself; be mentioned or discussed. 4 (often foll. by to) a approach a
person, esp. to
talk. b approach or
draw near to a specified time,
event, etc. (is coming up to
eight o'clock). 5 (foll. by to) match (a
standard etc.). 6 (foll. by with)
produce (an
idea etc.), esp. in
response to a
challenge. 7 (of a
plant etc.)
spring up out of the ground. 8 become brighter (e.g. with polishing);
shine more brightly. come up against be faced with or opposed
by. come upon 1 meet or find by chance. 2 attack by surprise. come what
may no
matter what happens. have it coming to one colloq. be about to get one's deserts. how come? colloq. how did that happen? if it comes to that in that case. to come future; in the future (the
year to come; many problems
were still to come). [OE cuman f. Gmc]