Come v.

Pa. t. came; pa. pple. come. Forms: see below. [A common Teut. str. vb.: OE. cuman, pa. t. cuóm, cóm, pl. cwómon, cómon, pa. pple. cumen, cymen = OFris. kuman (koman), kom, kômon, kimen, OS. cuman, quam, quâmun, cuman (MDu. comen, quam, quamen (Flem. also cam, camen), comen; Du. komen, kwaam, kwamen, gekomen); OHG. queman, coman, (chomen), and cuman, pa. t. quam, cham, chom, pl. quâmun, châmun, pa. pple. quoman, koman, chomen, kumen (MHG. komen, pa. t. quam, kam, kom, pl. quâmen, kâmen, kômen, pple. komen; mod.G. kommen, pa. t. kam, kamen, pple. gekommen); ON. koma, pa. t. kvam, kom, pl. kvǫmom, kómom, pple. komenn (Sw. komma, kom, kommo, kommen, Da. komme, kom, kommet); Goth. qiman, pa. t. qam, pl. qêmum, pple. qumans; all:—OTeut. *kweman and kuman, kwam, kwæmum-, kumano- :—Aryan *g^wem-, g^wm-, cf. Skr. and Zend. gam, Gr. βαίνω (:—*βάνjω:—*gwmjo-), L. venio (:—*gwemjô), etc.

  The present tense had two stem-forms in Teutonic, viz. kwem- and kum-, repr. pre-Teutonic g^wem-, g^wm-, respectively; the latter being commonly considered an ‘aorist-present.’ Of these, Gothic shows only the former; OHG. shows both; OE. only the kum- stem. The OE. cum- has remained to the present day, being regularly represented by the current kvm (in north. Eng. kum); the spelling cum was also frequent to 17th c., but the ME. scribal usage of writing o for u before m, n, u (v), introduced in 13th c. the spelling come, which finally prevailed: cf. some, son, tongue, love, etc. This use of o in ME. alike for the u of the present and pa. pple., and the ō of the past, was a defect of the writing which needs to be kept in mind.

  The pa. t. had in WGer. the typical forms kwam, kwâmun; in OE., as in the parallel vb. niman to take, the long vowel of the plural was taken into the sing., giving cuóm, cuómon, later cóm, cómon, which in southern Eng. lived on through the ME. period as cōm (coom, come), cōmen (cōme, coome, coom). But just as, in late WS., nóm, nómon, became nam, námon, so in late Northumbrian cóm, cómon appear to have become cam, cāmen, which are found in the earliest specimens of northern ME. These forms were used by Wyclif, and soon afterwards drove out com, come, which hardly appear after 1500 in the literary language, though still widely prevalent in midland and southern dialects.

  The pa. pple. cumen was used by some down to the 17th c., when it was still written comen, com·n. As usual, however, the final n began to be lost in the 13th c. (esp. in the form with prefix ycomen, ycome), whereby this part was at length leveled with the infinitive as come. Notwithstanding a strong tendency in 16–17th c. to conform it to the weak conjugation as comed (a form which has established itself dialectally, e.g., in south of Scotland), the clipt form come (kvm) remains that of standard English.

  In OE., umlaut forms of the present stem occurred in the normal 2 and 3 sing. cymes(t), cymeð, cymþ, which survived in early ME. kimest, kimeð; also in the pres. conj. cyme, and in the pa. pple. cymen (:—*kumino-); in ONorthumbrian, umlaut forms were more or less frequent all through the present stem, but these do not appear in ME. (See Sievers in Paul u. Braune’s Beitr., VIII. 81.)

  The perfect tenses were originally formed with the auxiliary be, which is still retained to express the resulting state; in the expression of action have has gradually displaced be: see BE v. 14 b.]

  A.  Forms.

  1.  Present stem: a. Infin. 1 cuman, 2–4 cumen, 3–5 cume, 4–6 cum; 3–4 comen, 3– come. (Also 3–4 kumen, komen, 4 commen, 4–6 comme, 4–7 com, 5 comyn, -in, cumne, cumnyn, 6 cumme, coome.)

Beowulf, 494. Cuman ongunnan.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 19. Þet he sculde cumen.

c. 1200.  Winteney, Rule St. Benet (1888), 80. Cumende … toforan þam abbode.

c. 1205.  Lay., 1156. Þa þingen þa weren to kumen.

a. 1300.  Signs bef. Judgm., in E. E. P. (1862), 10. Þat he sold come.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 24893 (Cott.). Quen þou cums [v.r. c. 1340 comes, comis].

c. 1440.  Apol. Loll., 37. Ȝif þu cum til a frend. Ibid., 92. Wan þu cumyst in to þe lond.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 108/1. Cum, or come [K. cvmnyn, H. cvmne] Venio.

c. 1450.  Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866), 247. Fro heuene to comyn.

1486.  Bk. St. Albans, E j a. Where that ye cum.

1559.  Mirr. Mag., Mowbray’s Banishm., xxii. To Englande not to coome.

1588.  Allen, Admon. (1842), 36. Now did he threaten to cum.

1657.  J. Smith, Myst. Rhet., 79. Cicero comming to Appius.

1808.  Scott, Marm., V. xii. O come ye in peace here, or come ye in war?

  b.  Pres. Ind. 2nd & 3rd sing. 1 cym(e)st, cymþ, cymmeð, 1–3 cumeþ, 2–3 kimest, kimeð; 3– comest, cometh, comes.

c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter, c[i]. 2. Ðonne þu cymes to me. Ibid., xxxvi. 13. Cymeð dæʓ his.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 21. Þenne kimeð þe deofel.

a. 1225.  Juliana, 63. Kimest king o domesdei.

1340.  Ayenb., 87. Þe ilke vrydom comþ of grace.

c. 1350.  Will. Palerne, 330. Whanne þou komest to kourt.

c. 1450.  Guy Warw. (C.), 11330. A man þat comyth onys therynne.

  2.  Pa. t. α. 1 cwóm, cuóm, 1 cóm, 2–6 cōm, 4–5 coom, coome, come. Pl. 1 cwómon, quómon, cómon, 2–5 cōmen, 4–6 come, (4 com, coom, 5 comyn, -un, cum; mod. dial. coome, come).

c. 855.  O. E. Chron., Introd. Hie up cuomon. Ibid., an. 855. Æfter þam to his leode cuom … and ymb ii ʓear þæs þe he in Francum com he ʓefór.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 19. He com among us. Ibid., 9. Heo comen … to þan sinagoge.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 1979. His sunes comen him to sen.

c. 1300.  Cursor M., 17288, Resurrection, 163 (Cott.). He come not in company. Ibid. (c. 1340), 8958 (Trin.). She coom in at þulke ȝate. Ibid., 10127 (Fairf.). How prophecijs comyn [v.r. com, coom, cam] to end.

c. 1388.  in Wyclif’s Sel. Wks., III. 458. He coome not to seche his owne glorie.

a. 1400[?].  Arthur, 512. Þis lond þat he coom fram.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 1004. Þai … Comyn euyn to the kyng. Ibid., 1021. To these kynges he come.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), xxv. 119. Till þai comme at þe emperour.

c. 1420.  Avow. Arth., xxxi. Thay … Comun to the kinge.

1523.  Sir W. Bulmer, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. I. I. 328. He com to me when the water was hyg.

1854.  W. Gaskell, Lect. Lanc. Dial., 24 (Lanc. Gloss.). A Lancashire man does not say he ‘came,’ but he ‘coome.’

1888.  W. Somerset Word-bk., Come pa. t.: came is unknown.

  B.  3–6 north. cam, (kam), 5– came. Also 4 kem. Pl. 3–5 north. camen, (kamen), 4– came, (north. cam).

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 416. Þan caim [= Cain] of Eue cam.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 677 (Gött.). Þe bestis cam him all aboute. Ibid., 12615 (Gött.). Scho came [v.r. com, coom] into a skole gangand.

c. 1320.  Sir Beues (1885), 2571. Whan he to londe kem.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 158. Þe messengers kamen to þe kyng ysaak.

c. 1370[?].  Robt. Cicyle (Halliw.), 57. To Rome came the aungelle soone.

1388.  Wyclif, Matt. ix. 28. Whanne he cam in to the hous, the blynde men camen to hym.

1516.  in E. Lodge, Illust. Brit. Hist. (1791), I. 12. The Quene of Scotts cam to Enfyld.

1521.  Fisher, Wks., 332. Saynt paule, whiche cam after them.

1532.  Bp. Longland, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., III. 97, I. 252. Itt came in to my house.

1841.  Lane, Arab. Nts., I. 114. Thou camest in two days and a half.

  γ.  occas. cum (?), cumen.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 1065. To Lothes hus he cumen.

  δ.  dial. 8–9 comed, coom’d.

1800–44.  Pegge, Anecd. Eng. Lang. (ed. 3), 188. Com’d in the London dialect is used both for the preterit came and for our false participle come.

1864.  Tennyson, North. Farmer (Old Style), v. An’ I hallus coom’d to’s choorch afoor moy Sally wur dead.

1879.  Miss Jackson, Shropshire Word-bk., p. lii. Pres. come; Pret. come, comed; Pa. pple. comen.

  3.  Pa. pple. α. 1–4 cumen, 2–3 icumen, ikumen, 4 cummyn, -in; 3–5 i-comen, 3–7, 9 dial. comen. Also 4 y-comen, comin, -inne, commun, cummen, -in, -un, 4–5 commen, comun, 4–6 comyn, commyn, 5 cumne, 6 cummen, 6–7 com’n, 7 comne.

c. 898.  O. E. Chron., an. 894. Wæs Hæsten þa þær cumen. Ibid. (1154), (Laud MS.), an. 1135. En mang þis was his nefe cumen to Engle-land.

a. 1240.  Ureisun, 112, in Cott. Hom., 197. Ich am to ðe ikumen.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 7991 (Cott.). Commen i am. Ibid. (c. 1340), 22303 (Edin.). Cominne ic am.

1576.  Woolton, Chr. Manual (Parker Soc.), 4. Which thing should have comen to pass.

1605.  Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. iv. § 12. Hence it hath comen, that in arts Mechanicall, the first deviser coms shortest.

1633.  T. James, Voy., 106. We … were now comne into such a tumbling sea.

1687.  P. Henry, Diaries & Lett. (1882), 355. Many who are com’n lately out of Ireland.

1879.  [see 2 δ above].

  β.  4–5 cum, icome, 5 ycome, com, 4– come.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 10575 (Gött.). Quen anna was cum.

c. 1435.  Torr. Portugal, 1236. To the kyng the thoght com was.

c. 1450.  Merlin, x. 149. Is oure socour than I-come?

1712.  Steele, Spect., 496. I am just come from Tunbridge.

1815.  Scott, Guy M., liv. The Hour’s come and the Man.

  γ.  6 cumd, -de, -ed, -it, -yt. cummed, commed, -yd, 6–7 com’d, 6–8, 9 dial. comed, coom’d.

c. 1525.  in Lingard, Hist. Eng., VI. 342. Dr. London is soddenlye commyd unto me.

a. 1572.  Knox, Hist. Ref., Wks. 1846, I. 371. His iniquitie was cumed to full rypenes.

1614.  T. White, Martyrd. St. George, B iv b. Com’d to the Temple, Georg … Surueys the Idols.

1649.  G. Daniel, Trinarch., Rich. II., lvi. Wee … Are com’d.

1652.  J. Wetherall, Discov. Opin. False Brethren, 60. I might have com’d.

1705.  S. Whately, in W. S. Perry, Hist. Coll. Amer. Col. Ch. What need they have comed over night then?

1848.  [see 43 d].

  B.  Signification.

  gen. An elementary intransitive verb of motion, expressing movement towards or so as to reach the speaker, or the person spoken to, or towards a point where the speaker in thought or imagination places himself, or (when he is not himself in question) towards the person who forms the subject of his narrative. It is thus often used in opposition to go, although the latter does not primarily involve direction, and is often used without reference thereto. Come is also used merely of the accomplishment of the movement, involved in reaching or becoming present at any place or point; and sometimes the entrance upon motion, involved in issuing from a source, is alone, or at least chiefly, thought of (cf. 11).

  It is rarely quasi-transitive by ellipsis: see VI.

  I.  Of motion in space.

              *of actual motion.

  1.  In its most literal sense it expresses the hitherward motion of a voluntary agent.

  a.  To move towards, approach.

c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter, cxxv[i]. 6. Gongende eodon and weopun sendende sed he[ara], cumende soðlice cumað in wynsumnisse beorende reopan heara.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 3992. O folk tua flokes cums wit me. Ibid., 4176. Þan sagh þai cumand be þe stret Marchands.

c. 1380.  Sir Ferumb., 1637. Þey … hiderward buþ now comyng.

c. 1420.  Avow. Arth., xvi. He mette the bore comande.

c. 1489.  Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, viii. 195. Here comyn our enmyes.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. ix. 25. Loe! he comes, he comes fast after mee.

1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., III. ii. 38. Bap. Is he come?… Bion. He is comming. Bap. When will he be heere?

1784.  Cowper, Task, IV. 5. O’er yonder bridge … He comes, the herald of a noisy world, With spattered boots.

1859.  Tennyson, Geraint & Enid, 975. Yonder comes a knight.

  b.  esp. To reach by moving towards; hence, often merely, To arrive, present oneself.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Luke x. 35. Þonne ic cume ic hit forʓylde be.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 5050 (Gött.). Ruben … had mekil ioy quen þai war comin.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Sec. Nun’s T., 242. And with that word, Tiburce, his brother come.

c. 1450.  Merlin, i. 7. She sente after this woman, and she com.

1528.  in Strype, Eccl. Mem., I. App. xxiv. 64. He was very sory, that he could not cumme soner … and now cummen he wold not faile to do the best he could.

1631.  Milton, Epit. Mch’ness Winchester, 19. He at their invoking came.

1782.  Cowper, J. Gilpin, 167. Say why bareheaded you are come, Or why you come at all?

1854.  Tennyson, To Maurice. Come, when no graver cares employ, Godfather, come and see your boy.

  2.  Also said of the hitherward motion of involuntary agents:

  a.  of things having (apparently) a motion of their own, as water, wind, etc. Naut. said spec. of the direction or nature of the wind.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 1042 (Gött.). Þat might neuer flod cum þar ney.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xxiv. (1495), 133. The humours comm fro the heed to the pypes of the throte.

c. 1430.  Cookery Bks. (E.E.T.S.), 17. Boyle it, an when yt komyth on hy, a-lye it with wyne.

1549.  Compl. Scotl., 34. Quhen the rane cummis.

1633.  T. James, Voy., 23. The winde came Easterly: so that we could not budge.

1653.  H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., xxx. 108. This river … comes from Tartaria, out of a lake, called Fanistor.

1669.  Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., I. 16. The Wind is fair … he comes well, as if he would stand.

1720.  De Foe, Capt. Singleton xv. (1840), 256. The … arrows came thick among them.

c. 1790.  J. Willock, Voy., ii. 54. On the twenty-ninth, the wind coming favourable we put to sea.

1870.  Tennyson, Window. Sun comes, moon comes, Time slips away.

  b.  of things which are brought, or of persons brought without their own will. In many phrases, e.g., To come to bear: to be (or suffer itself to be) brought to bear: see BEAR v. 40, 32, BRING 8 f.

c. 1340.  Cursor M., 18479 (Trin.). A cloþinge is comen vs vp on.

1469.  in Arnolde, Chron. (1811), 117. To alle trewe cristen pepull to whom thys present wrytting shalbe come.

1574.  in W. H. Turner, Select. Rec. Oxford, 353. S^r Francis Knowils letter came as it were to bayle me.

1611.  Bible, Judg. xiii. 5. No rasor shall come on his head.

1667.  Pepys, Diary, 17 Aug. The play is the most ridiculous that sure ever came upon stage.

1720.  De Foe, Capt. Singleton, xi. (1840), 192. Her main topmast was come by the board.

1728.  R. Morris, Ess. Anc. Archit., 6. Architecture came to Rome … about 461 Years before Marcellus.

1745.  P. Thomas, Jrnl. Anson’s Voy., 282. Every one firing as fast as his Gun would come to bear.

a. 1786.  Cowper, Yearly Distress, 37. The dinner comes, and down they sit.

1805.  A. Duncan, Mariner’s Chron., III. 209. All her masts came immediately by the board.

1855.  A. Manning, Old Chelsea Bun-house, viii. 125. The Letter was not long a-coming.

  c.  To move or be brought to a particular position; to fall or land on a part of the body, etc.

1804.  G. Rose, Diaries (1860), II. 193. The horse, on cantering down a … hill, came on his head.

1843.  Dickens, Chr. Carol, ii. He appeared to wink with his legs, and came upon his feet again without a stagger.

1889.  Chamb. Jrnl., 9 Nov., 725/2. She came to an abrupt halt.

  3.  Constructions.

  a.  With prepositions. The preposition naturally following come is to; instead of which, however, there may stand any other of more complex sense, in which the notion to is contained or involved, as into, unto, towards, against, on, upon, about, around, beside, near, above, beneath, before, behind, over, under the point of direction; before a person, a tribunal, etc.

  Beside the notion of to expressed or understood, relations of other kinds may be considered; and these sometimes become the only ones actually considered or expressed, e.g., from the point left, across, along, through, by, over, under, up, down a route followed or things passed, with a companion or accompaniment, by, in a conveyance, for a thing wanted, after a person or thing followed or sought.

c. 975.  Rushw. Gosp., John iii. 26. Alle comon to him.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Luke xiv. 27. Se þe … cymð æfter me.

1154.  O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1132. Ðis ȝear com Henri King to þis land · þam com Henri abbot.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 1438. Eliezer him cam a-gon. Ibid., 2940. And comen biforen pharaon.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 3356. Quat man es he þat cumand tilward us i se? Ibid., 12362. Þe leons com him all a-bute.

1382.  Wyclif, Mark v. 1. Thei camen ouer the wawe of the see into the cuntree of Genazareth.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Prol., 23. At nyght were come in to that hostelrye.

c. 1450.  Merlin, iii. 45. The kynge come fro chirche.

1529.  More, Comf. agst. Trib., III. Wks. 1333/1. He causeth lyke a good husband man, his folke to come on fielde.

1667.  Pepys, Diary, 5 Oct. What base company of men comes among them.

a. 1714.  Burnet, Own Time, II. 30. She came on her way as far as Metz.

1720.  De Foe, Capt. Singleton, xii. 205. He came aboard my ship. Ibid., 205/1. A whole troop of old ones came about us at the noise.

1825.  Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), II. 1. We came through a fine flock of ewes.

1836.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, 6. Coming up the stairs. Ibid. (1843), Chr. Carol, iv. Come into the parlour.

1838.  Lytton, Alice, X. iii. The squire has only just come off a journey.

1848.  Mrs. Gaskell, M. Barton, xviii. I’ll come with you.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 524. The stranger who comes from abroad.

  ¶  The collocation of come with a particular preposition has often a specialized sense: e.g., to come by (a thing) = to acquire. For these see VIII.

  b.  Come may be followed by the infin. of purpose, with to (formerly sometimes preceded by for, as still in vulgar use).

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 190 (Gött.). Mari … Com to wasse vr lauerdes fete.

1485.  Caxton, Paris & V., 17. Were comen for to see the feste.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 89. They came to take him.

1607.  Walkington, Opt. Glass, i. (1664), 9. Charon and Atropos are com’d to call me away from my delicies.

1726.  Swift, Gulliver (1869), 183/1. Those who came to visit me.

1843.  Dickens, Chr. Carol, i. When will you come to see me?

1859.  Tennyson, Guinevere, 529. I did not come to curse thee, Guinevere.

  c.  Purpose or business is also expressed by the vbl. sb. with a (= on).

16[?].  Evelyn, Mem. (1857), III. 141. He suspected I came a birding.

1846.  Tennyson, Dora, 140. I never came a-begging for myself.

  d.  The purposed sequel or consequence of coming is joined by and.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., John i. 39. He cwæþ to him cumað & geseoþ.

1382.  Wyclif, Luke xx. 16. He schal come, and lese these tilieres.

a. 1498.  Warkw., Chron. (Camden Soc.), 5. Every manne was suffred to come and speke withe hym.

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. lxxv[i]. 9. All nacions … shall come and worshipe before the o Lorde.

1660.  Trial Regic., 196. Several persons came and offered themselves.

1704.  Pope, Summer, 63. Come, lovely nymph, and bless the silent hours.

1812.  H. & J. Smith, Rej. Addr., Macbeth Travestie, iii. Diddle diddle, Good Duncan, pray come and be killed.

1854.  [see 1 b].

Mod.  Come and see us in our new home. He came and bought one.

  † e.  Formerly the infin. was used without and.

c. 1430.  Lydg., Bochas, IV. ix. (1554), 107 b. He must come flatter.

c. 1485.  Digby Myst. (1882), III. 618. I be-seche yow … thys daye to com dyne at my hows.

1539.  Cranmer, Matt. xxviii. 6. Come se [Tindale come and se] the place where that the Lord was layed.

1542.  Udall, Erasm. Apophth., 299 b. As many as wer in the citee betweene sixteen and sixtie should … come follow hym.

1598.  Shaks., Merry W., IV. ii. 80. Quicke, quicke, wee’le come dresse you straight. Ibid. (1604), Oth., III. iv. 50. I haue sent to bid Cassio come speake with you.

1647.  W. Browne, trans. Polexander, II. 55. Spaniards, which seem’d to have come offer themselves to your sword.

  f.  An action accompanying the hitherward motion (and often constituting the principal notion) was originally expressed by a following infinitive; but now by a following participle in -ing.

Beowulf, 240 (Gr.). ʓe … þe þus brontne ceol ofer lagustræte lædan cwomon.

a. 1000.  Crist, 902 (Gr.). Sunnan leoma cymeþ scynan.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 81. A vuhel com flon from houene.

c. 1205.  Lay., 25525. Þer comen seilien … scipes.

c. 1290.  Saints’ Lives (Laud MS. 1887), St. Cuthbert, 5. Þare cam gon a luyte child.

c. 1380.  Sir Ferumb., 1554. As þese frensche men come ryde on message fro Charloun. Ibid., 2333. Wiþ þat cam renne sire Bruyllant.

c. 1450.  Guy Warw. (C.), 605. There come prykyng dewke Raynere.

1485.  Caxton, Chas. Gt., 163. He sawe rychard come rydyng vpon an hors.

1523.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. lxxvi. 97. The Scottes came fleyng ouer the dales.

1678.  Bunyan, Pilgr., I. 44. There came two Men running against him amain.

1726.  Swift, Gulliver (1869), 205/1. The nag came galloping towards me.

1832.  Tennyson, Lady of Shalott, II. iii. The knights come riding two and two.

1843.  Dickens, Chr. Carol, i. The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 24. You come asking in what wisdom … differs from the other sciences.

  g.  There may be an adverbial accusative of the way pursued or the distance traversed. Come your ways: see WAY.

1600.  Shaks., A. Y. L., I. ii. 221. Come your waies.

1773.  Goldsm., Stoops to Conq., I. ii. We were told it was but forty miles … and we have come above threescore. Ibid. The road you came. Ibid., V. They are coming this way.

1887.  Stevenson, Underwoods, I. xi. 23. We have come the primrose way.

Mod.  We have come many miles by train.

  4.  a. Instead of the place of destination, the purpose or function may be introduced by to.

1440.  J. Shirley, Dethe K. James, 19. His servantes … shuld … haf cumne to his socoure.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 474. If he would personally come to a communication.

1596.  Spenser, F. Q., IV. xii. 4. He might not … with th’ eternall Gods to bancket come.

1596.  Shaks., Merch. V., IV. i. 223. A Daniel come to iudgement.

1748.  Smollett, Rod. Rand., xxii. Coming to the relief of a damsel in distress.

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 94. The promised deliverer of their race, would come to the rescue.

  b.  Conversely, the name of a place (with to, into) may include, or simply stand for, what is done there; as in to come to the BAR, into COURT, into MARKET, to the HAMMER, etc. (See these.)

1781.  Ann. Reg., Hist. Europe, 199*/1. The matter came into the court of King’s Bench.

1825.  New Monthly Mag., XIV. 19. When I came to the bar a man’s success depended upon his exertions.

1883.  Black, Yolande, II. ix. 170. Monaglen is about to come into the market.

1887.  Mrs. Riddell, Nun’s Curse, II. ii. 39. Amos won’t let the matter come into court if he can help it.

  c.  To come into the world: to be born.

[1382.  Wyclif, John i. 9. It was verri liȝt which liȝtneth ech man comynge into this world. Ibid., xviii. 37. To this thing I am born, and to this I cam in to the world, that I bere witnessing to treuthe.]

c. 1510.  W. de Worde, Gesta Rom., A vij. Euery man cometh poore and naked in to this worlde frome his moders bely.

1849.  Dickens, Dav. Copp., i. He died … six months before I came into the world.

            **  of attributed motion.

  5.  Of things: To extend, reach, or project with an extremity, from one point to or towards another.

c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg. (MS. A.), 24. From þe brayn comen .vii. peire cordes … alle þe cordis þat comen of þe brayn.

15[?].  Prose Legends, in Anglia, VIII. 151. A cote … comynge to the helys.

1547.  Boorde, Introd. Knowl., 172. The cyte is well walled, and there commeth to it an arme of the See.

1611.  Coryat, Crudities, 294. Yron beames that came athwart or acrosse from one side to the other.

1675.  in Picton, L’pool Munic. Rec. (1883), I. 286. The … new building to come noe further in the street than the old … Channell doth extend.

1703.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 174. Wooden Screws entred into wooden Nuts … and coming through against the Rest.

Mod.  Does the railway come near the town?

  b.  To come to an end: to end, terminate, be concluded. To come to a point: to terminate in a point, etc.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. ii. (Tollem. MS.). Þe heed is sumdel comynge narow, and hyȝe.

1694.  Narborough, Acc. Sev. Late Voy., I. (1711), 31. Their hind part tapers till it comes to a point.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. viii. 58. The fissure at length came to an end.

  6.  Things are said to come (to a person), come in sight, into view, etc., to which, or in sight of which, he comes as he advances.

1825.  New Monthly Mag., XIII. 373. Bethlehem soon came in view.

1842.  Tait’s Mag., IX. 43/1. The house-keeper’s and servants’ rooms came next. Ibid. (1850), XVII. 28/1. Pianosa now came in sight.

1879.  Whyte-Melville, Riding Recoll., xi. (ed. 7), 201. Jump off … to walk up and down the hills with him as they come.

1889.  G. G. A. Murray, Gobi or Shamo, xxi. 357 The sparse fields of stubble come quite as a relief to the eye.

  b.  By extensions of this, things are said to come in one’s way, within one’s reach, under one’s notice, within the scope of a measure, and the like; also to come in a particular position or order with relation to contiguous things, to inclusion in a classification, etc., as to come on such a page of a book, before or after other things, under a heading, etc. See esp. come under, 46.

1687.  Burnet, Contn. Refl. Varillas, 68. There is but one Doctor, unless Fisher comes into the Account.

1818.  Cobbett, Pol. Reg., XXXIII. 680. Instances that have come within my own knowledge.

1823.  New Monthly Mag., IX. 423/2. Such books as came within his reach.

1874.  Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng., I. iii. 53. Beneath these comes the free class of labourers.

1876.  F. G. Fleay, Shaks. Manual, I. ix. 86. It does not come within the scope of this book to treat of any author except Shakespeare critically.

1877.  Scribn. Mag., XV. 199/1. This did not come into the category.

1885.  Sir R. Baggallay, in Law Rep., 14 Q. B. Div. 879. This case did not come within the terms of [the] Order.

  7.  The motion of a limb, weapon, or tool is often spoken of as that of the person who comes with it (i.e., brings it) to such a position; cf. come down with, come out with.

1699.  Dampier, Voy., II. I. viii. 155. We set our Sails again … and ordered the man at Helm not to come to the southward of the E. S. E.

1787.  Advice to Officers Brit. Army (ed. 9), 128. The same effect may be produced by coming from the shoulder to the order at two motions.

1883.  Army Corps Orders, in Standard, 22 March, 3/3. The whole of the Infantry will come to the ‘shoulder’ by battalions on entering the saluting base.

  II.  Where the notion of movement in space passes into or is sunk in other notions.

            *  To come (to a person, etc.).

  8.  said of things which one receives, or becomes possessed of: = To fall to one.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 18409. Hu come þe sa grathli gode?

c. 1382.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 502. Þo moste heresye þat God suffred cum to his Chirche.

1545.  Ascham, Toxoph., I. (Arb.), 31. The profite that may come thereby to many other.

1582.  Hester, Secr. Phiorav., I. vi. 7. Bothe [Measles and Small Pox] come with an accident of a Fever.

a. 1593.  H. Smith, Serm. (1637), 612. Riches come, and yet the man is not pleased.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 269. Tell me … whether it [virtue] comes to man by nature.

  b.  esp. of possessions that one gets in due course, as by inheritance or other legal process.

a. 1400.  Cato’s Morals, 37, in Cursor M., App. iv. Þat comis þe be heritage.

1542.  James V., in Scott, Tales Grandfather, Ser. I. xxviii. It came with a lass, and it will go with a lass.

1674.  trans. Machiavel’s Florentine Hist., I. 35. Till such time as the Papacy came to Alexander the Third.

1687.  Burnet, Contn. Refl. Varillas, 106. The Succession came to the Dutchess of Suffolk’s Daughters.

1766.  Hist. Goody Two-Shoes, I. (1881), 5. Until the Estate by Marriage and by Death came into the Hands of Sir Timothy.

1887.  Baring-Gould, Gaverocks, I. xviii. 257. Stanbury … belongs to us. It came through my mother.

  9.  of events, casualties, kinds of fortune, etc. = To happen or occur to, to befall.

Beowulf, 23 (Gr.). Þonne wiʓ cume leode ʓelæsten.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 15. Þet al þas wrake is icumen ouer alle þeode.

c. 1300.  Beket, 1088. For him was to cominge sorwe ynouȝ.

1406.  E. E. Wills (1882), 13. Yer ought come to Thomas Roos.

c. 1450.  Guy Warw. (C.), 4944. And euyll chawnce came to vs ryght.

1611.  Bible, Eccl. ix. 2. All things come alike to all: there is one euent to the righteous and to the wicked [etc.]. Ibid., Mark ix. 21. And he asked his father, Howe long is it agoe since this [foming] came vnto him? And he said, Of a child.

1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 182. No more harme comming to either.

1748.  Richardson, Clarissa (1811), IV. 329. What’s come-to mine, that he writes not to my last?

1833.  New Monthly Mag., XXXVIII. 334. Ill come … to the false tongue of the deceiver, that can desert the wished and the lovely.

1856.  J. H. Newman, Callista, 86. I don’t know what has come to the gate since I was here.

1888.  McCarthy & Mrs. C. Praed, Ladies’ Gallery, I. ii. 44. Whatever comes to me, you are safe enough.

  10.  of sensuous or mental impressions.

  a.  of sights, sounds, and other sensuous impressions.

a. 1340.  Cursor M., 10514 (Cott.). Þi gerning god and þi praier Er cummin vn-to godds ere.

a. 1450.  Knt. de la Tour (1868), 11. There come a vision to her in a night.

1483.  Caxton, G. de la Tour, A vj b. A voys cam sayeng … make clene this plater.

1562.  Turner, Herbal, II. 141 b. Other kindes … of the gardin smilax then have cummed to my syght.

1832.  Tennyson, Mariana in S., viii. There came a sound as of the sea.

1849.  Tait’s Mag., XVI. 171/1. A knock came to his door.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 432. The same dream came to me sometimes in one form, and sometimes in another.

  b.  of thoughts, notions, and the like. To come into one’s head: to occur to one. Also to come to one’s knowledge.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 6602 (Cott.). Ne neuer come it yow in thoght. Ibid., 28332. Quen idel thoght me come and vain.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), xxxiv. 155. It coome to my mynde.

1483.  Cath. Angl., 72. To Come to mynde, occurrere.

1680.  Bunyan, Mr. Badman (1772), 182. The book that he had written came into his mind.

1711.  Steele, Spect., No. 254, ¶ 3. I wish it may never come into your Head to imitate those … Creatures.

1726.  Swift, Gulliver (1869), 216/1. It never came once into my thoughts.

1850.  Tait’s Mag., XVII. 684/1. A pretty incident … came to his knowledge.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), IV. 257. The truth must often come to a man through others.

1889.  Eng. Illust. Mag., Dec., 259. It came into my head to jump aloft.

1903.  Gertrude Atherton, Senator North, xxiii. 244. The idea came to me that I must tell him, and I believed that it came straight from the Lord.

            **  To come from a source, etc.

  11.  a. as anything from a source: To flow, emanate, be derived from, of.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 308. Þe hali gost comms of hem tua. Ibid. (c. 1340), 9579 (Fairf.). To hym that þe falshed comyþ fro Ayen to hym let yt go.

c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 7 (MS. A). Surgerie … comeþ, of siros … an hand, & gyros … þat is worchinge in englisch.

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. lxi[i]. 1. Of him commeth my helpe.

1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., III. ii. 78. Accommodated, it comes of Accommodo: very good, a good Phrase.

1601.  Holland, Pliny, I. 413. This wine commeth of the grape about the towne Forum Appij.

1791.  ‘G. Gambado,’ Ann. Horsem. (1809), Pref. 53. Any thing more that comes from the pen of Geoffrey Gambado.

1826.  Ann. Reg., Hist. Europe, 101/2. The present motion … came from a gentleman of that country.

1879.  M. J. Guest, Lect. Hist. Eng., xv. 142. Words which come originally from the Latin, and which the French gave to us.

  b.  as progeny, offspring, descendants from a parent or ancestor: To descend. Const. of, from.

c. 1250.  Hymn Virg., in Trin. Coll. Hom., App. 256. Þu ert icumen of heȝe kunne.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 2566. Þe sede þat coms o þe.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), xxiv. 109. Þe folk of Tartre come of þe kynreden of Cham.

1475.  Caxton, Jason, 77. If of Appollo and of mena cam a sone that sone sholde succede to the royame.

1570–6.  Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 7. Mankinde that came of the loines of Sem, Cham, and Iapheth.

1640.  G. Herbert, Jacula Prudentum. He that comes of a hen must scrape.

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 526, ¶ 3. Any young gentleman, who is come of honest parents.

1849.  C. Brontë, Shirley, i. Come of gentle kin.

1878.  Scribn. Mag., XV. 583/1. I came from a race of fishers.

  c.  as an effect from its cause. Also of (by).

a. 1225.  Ancren Riwle, 296. Þet muchel kumeð of lutel.

c. 1300.  Cursor M., 27682 (Cott. Galba MS.). Of enuy cummes oft grete grocheing.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Nun’s Pr. T., 107. Certes this dreme … Cometh of the grete superfluitee Of youre rede colera parde.

1485.  Act 1 Hen. VII., c. 8. The Money coming of or by the said Sale.

1568.  Turner, Herbal, III. 3. Rotten agues, of which the jaundes is commed.

1580.  Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 445. Their beautie commeth by nature, yours by art.

1611.  Bible, Transl. Pref., 1 b. He had not seene any profit to come by any Synode.

1663.  Butler, Hud., I. i. 758. Sure some Mischief will come of it.

1773.  S. Hopkins, Sin, etc., ii. 39. As sin, in its own nature, and tendency, is as odious, vile and mischievous, as if no good came of it; so the disposition, aim and end of the sinner, is as hateful and vile, as contrary to God and all good, as if no good came of the sin he commits.

1833.  New Monthly Mag., XXXVII. 350. Education comes of more things than books.

1836.  A. Fonblanque, Eng. under 7 Administr. (1837), III. 286. This comes of having the son of a cotton-spinner for a chief.

1884.  W. C. Smith, Kildrostan, 48. Suspicion murders love, and from its death Come anguish and remorse.

Mod.  No good could come of it.

    *** To come into (in) a condition or relation.

  12.  To enter or be brought into collision, contact, possession, use, fashion, action, play, force, prominence, opposition, contrast, comparison, etc. (the phrases being sometimes literal, sometimes entirely fig.) See these words.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, VI. xiv. 63. O my childring cum nocht in vse to hant Sic fremmyt battellis.

1668.  Wilkins, Real Char., IV. iv. 434. It may come into comparison with any of the Languages now known.

1825.  New Monthly Mag., XIII. 55. A gay and piquant style … came into fashion.

1850.  Tait’s Mag., XVII. 438/2. That such a law should have come into existence. Ibid., 492/1. Scott and Chalmers … do not appear to have come into contact. Ibid., 544/2. The carbines will come into play.

1865.  W. A. Wright, in Smith’s Dict. Bible (1875), 611/2. The division … into chapters came into use at a later time. Ibid., 614/2. The … Polyglott … came into circulation.

1878.  Scribn. Mag., XVI. 480/1. The … property … came into the possession of Mr. Bryant.

1885.  Law Rep., Wkly. Notes, 146/1. She … came into collision with a steamer.

  b.  To come into blossom, ear, flower, etc.: cf. 23.

1841.  Journ. Roy. Agric. Soc., II. I. 141. Both crops came into ear at the same time.

    **** Absolute uses, with notions of coming into existence, growth, change of state.

  13.  To come into existence, make its appearance; to come above ground or out of the germ, as a plant; to appear on the surface of the body, as hair, a rash, pimple, etc.

c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 4 (MS. B). Off Aposteme þat comyth on þe sydes.

Mod.  He sowed turnips, but none of them came.

  14.  Of grain in Malting: To germinate, put forth the radicle. [Here there is some connection with COME sb.², and Ger. keimen: perh. a distinct verb cōme has fallen together with this.]

c. 1400[?].  Chalmerlan Ayr, xxvi. Sc. Stat. I. 693. Item þat þai lat jt akyrspire … quhare it aw bot to chip and cum at þe tane end.

1483.  [see COMING vbl. sb.² 1].

1577.  Harrison, England, II. vi. (1877), I. 156. To shoote at the root end, which maltsters call Comming. When it beginneth tharefore to shoot in this maner, theie saie it is come.

1584.  T. Hudson, Judith (1611), 13 (Jam.). Oft turning corne … least it do sproute or feede, Or come againe.

1616.  Surfl. & Markh., Country Farm, 105. Raw Malt when it is almost readie to goe to the Kilne, and as the Husbandman saith, is only well comed.

1669.  Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 54. Let Pease be taken and steeped in as much Water as will cover them, till they Swell and Come, and be so ordered as Barley is for Maulting.

1725.  Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Malt, To make the Barley Come even in the Couch.

  15.  Butter is said to come, when it forms in the churn; so cheese-curd, jellies, etc., when they form.

[1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., III. (1586), 147. About a two or three houres after you have put in your Rennet, the Milke commeth to a Curd.]

1641.  J. Jackson, True Evang. T., I. 7. Not to churne the sincere milk thereof till butter come, nor to wring the nose of it till bloud come.

1796.  Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, xxii. 354. Put in two spoonfuls of rennet, and when it is come, break it a little.

1858.  Mrs. Stowe, Minister’s Wooing, I. 2. She can always step over to distressed Mrs. Smith, whose jelly won’t come.

1884.  Harper’s Mag., March, 520/2. On churning days the butter refused to come.

1884.  Holland, Chesh. Gloss., s.v., The curd is said to come when it coagulates; and butter is said to come when it separates from the milk in churning.

  † 16.  Of persons: To yield, be favorably moved. (Cf. come about, come round, come to, and COMING ppl. a. 2.) Obs.

1603.  Shaks., Meas. for M., II. ii. 125. Oh, to him, to him wench: he will relent, Hee’s comming: I perceiue ’t.

1605.  B. Jonson, Volpone, II. iii. Corv. [aside] In the point of honour, The cases are all one, of wife and daughter. Mos. [aside] I heare him comming.

  III.  Of arrival in order, time, or course of events.

    *  Of reaching a point or stage of proceedings. (Said of a voluntary agent.)

  17.  To arrive at or reach in the course of orderly treatment. Const. to, at, or infin.

a. 1200.  Moral Ode, 157, in Trin. Coll. Hom., 224. Ich wulle nu cumen eft to þe dome ich eow ar of sade.

1544.  Latimer, Wks. (Parker Soc.), II. 438. Begin at his birth, and go forth until ye come at his burial.

1581.  J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 258. I come now to y^e pynche of my true defence.

1669.  Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., I. 3. In this Treatise we will come to the Sea-Compass.

1687.  Burnet, Contn. Refl. Varillas, 121. Our Author is always unhappy, when he comes to particulars.

1722.  De Foe, Col. Jack (1840), 253. When I come to consider that part more narrowly.

1781.  Ann. Reg., Acc. of Bks., 200/2. We now come to the reign of Queen Mary.

1874.  Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng., I. iv. 68. Until we come to ages in which we have clearer data.

1884.  Gladstone, in Standard, 29 Feb., 2/7. I now come to the third of these great problems.

  18.  To advance, proceed, or attain to, as an end or natural result. Occas. with indirect pass.

1475.  Caxton, Jason, 20 b. I hope to come to thaboue of myn enterpryse.

1545.  Ascham, Toxoph., I. (Arb.), 97. They knewe not whyche way to houlde to comme to shootynge.

1707.  Freind, Peterborow’s Cond. Sp., 13. They are come to this unanimous Resolution.

1728.  De Foe, Carleton (1809), 3. To avoid coming to a battle for the present.

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, VII. xii. They soon came to a right understanding.

1827.  Scott, Tales Grandfather, Ser. I. viii. These two haughty barons came to high and abusive words.

1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 556. To fear that the two parties would come to blows.

1876.  Freeman, Norm. Conq., II. App. 678. A compromise was come to.

1897.  Emma Rayner, Free to Serve, xli. 428. Truly you did not cross the sea to come to fisticuffs with offscouring such as yon.

            **  Of the arrival of time.

  19.  Of time or portions of time: To be present, to arrive in due course.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 45. A þet cume domes-dei.

c. 1340.  Cursor M., 12830 (Trin.). He knew þe tyme come þat he wolde haue bapteme nome.

1382.  Wyclif, 1 Pet. v. 1. That glorye, that is to be schewid in tyme to comynge.

a. 1400.  Stac. Rome, 750, in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866), 140. Whan the soneday is I-come.

1480.  in Acta Dom. Concilii, 69 (Jam.). The lordis assignis to Patric Ramsay Monunday that next cummys.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 218. When bed tyme came, the king went to his bed.

1597.  Daniel, Civ. Wares, VIII. lxiii. The morning being com’n (and glad he was That it was com’n).

1663.  F. Hawkins, Youths Behav., 85. When two Sundayes come together.

1726.  Swift, Gulliver (1869), 211/1. When … the day came for my departure, I took leave of my master.

1833.  New Monthly Mag., XXXVIII. 390. The time must come, and will come quickly.

    ***  Of the arrival in time, or in the course of events, of things or involuntary agents.

  20.  Of an event: To come about, happen, turn out; esp. quasi-impers. with subject clause; = next.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 13131. Til it com on a fest dai, Þat king herod did for to call Þe barnage.

1535.  Coverdale, 1 Sam. i. 4. Whan it came vpon a daye that Elcana offred.

1548.  Hall, Chron., 186. How commeth this that there are so many Newe Testamentes abrode?

1603.  Philotus, xciv. All things ar cumde for the best.

1607.  Shaks., Cor., III. i. 275. How com’st that you haue holpe To make this rescue?

1837.  Carlyle, Diam. Necklace, iv. And then the exasperating Why? The How came it?

  21.  To come to pass: to happen, take place in the course of events, come about, occur, be fulfilled.

1481.  Caxton, Reynard (Arb.), 108. The wulf … threw the foxe al plat under hym, which cam hym evyl to passe.

1526.  Tindale, Matt. xxiv. 6. All these thinges must come to passe, but the ende is not yet.

1563.  Homilies, II. Idolatry (1859), 202. You may see that cummen to pass which Bishop Serenus feared.

1662.  Stillingfl., Orig. Sacr., II. vi. § 13. Therefore the event may not come to pass, and yet the Prophet be a true Prophet.

1718.  Hickes, J. Kettlewell, I. v. 20. Which accordingly came to pass.

1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 335. The change which has come to pass in the cities.

  b.  quasi-impers. with subject clause. arch.

1526.  Tindale, Luke v. 1. It came to passe … that he stoode by the lake of Genezareth.

1535.  Coverdale, Tobit iv. 7. So shal it come to passe, that the face of the Lorde shal not be turned awaye from the.

1597.  Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxix. § 3. How it cometh to pass that one day doth excel another.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 128, ¶ 10. By this means it comes to pass, that the Girls look upon their Father as a Clown.

1726.  Swift, Gulliver (1869), 155/2. To know … how it came to pass that people were so violently bent upon getting into this assembly.

  22.  Of things which arrive or take place in time.

  Here belong such phrases as, His turn came, It came his turn, or to his turn to do something: see TURN.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 59. Adueniat regnum tuum, Cume þi riche we seggeð hit.

1388.  Wyclif, Coloss. ii. 17. Schadewe of thingis to comynge.

1616.  Pasquil & Kath., I. 62. When the Lord my Fathers Audit comes.

1625.  Bacon, Ess., Gardens (Arb.), 556. For March, There come Violets.

1651.  Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxvi. 144. One Judge passeth, another commeth.

1732.  Arbuthnot, Rules of Diet, 415. For the longer the Eruption is a coming and the smaller when it comes the Disease is less dangerous.

1878.  Scribn. Mag., XV. 116/1. After the dinner came the reception. Ibid., 776/1. It came to Janet’s turn.

  23.  To be brought in the course of events; to grow, arrive at, attain to (a specified state or stage). Sometimes impers. ‘it comes to.’ Hence many idiomatic phrases; e.g., To come to, in, on PLACE: to take place. See Come to, 45.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 5070 (Gött.). I tald a drem Þat comen es nou to gode.

c. 1320.  Seuyn Sages (W.), 1195. Is hit comen therto, We sscholle be departed so.

c. 1450.  Guy Warw. (C.), 4427. Tyll hyt came to darke nyght Euyn they folowed me ryght.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531). Vnto the tyme they come to the yeres of discrecyon.

1609.  Skene, Reg. Maj., 94. Quhen it is cum to the giving of the sentence.

1611.  Bible, Job xiv. 21. His sonnes come to honour.

1687.  Burnet, Contn. Refl. Varillas, 143. She bore him several children, but one Daughter only came to Age.

1758.  Binnell, Descr. Thames, 254. He comes to his full Growth in a Year.

1793.  B. Edwards, Col. W. Ind. (1794), II. IV. 12. The trees that come soonest to perfection.

1833.  New Monthly Mag., XXXVII. 165. Is it come to this?

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 231. If any of his deeds come to light.

1879.  M. J. Guest, Lect. Hist. Eng., l. 508. But though he [Evelyn] adopts so bold and enlightened a tone about eclipses, he becomes dubious and cautious when it comes to meteors and comets.

1889.  Cornh. Mag., Dec., 568. Why should Dick have come to harm?

  b.  with dat. infin. To come to do, be, etc.

1563–87.  Foxe, A. & M., viii. 327. He came to understand that.

1590.  Sir J. Smyth, Disc. Weapons, Sign. * *. The same Saxons … themselves came after to be conquered by the Danes.

1629.  H. Burton, Babel no Bethel, 86. How comes then M. Cholmeley to be thus egregiously deceiued?

1653.  H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Voy., xxxv. § 3. When any exhalation comes to dissolve in the air.

1692.  Bentley, Boyle Lect., viii. 265. But how came the Sun to be Luminous?

1842.  Tait’s Mag., IX. 246/1. She … liked [him] more and more as she came to know him.

1885.  Act 48 & 49 Vict., c. 76, Pream. The River Thames … has come to be largely used as a place of public recreation and resort.

1889.  K. S. Macquoid, R. Ferron, I. 54. How came you to be up so early?

  24.  With complement (pa. pple., adj., or † sb.).

  a.  To become, get to be (in some condition).

  Often expressing passage from one condition into another, as in ‘to come untied.’

c. 1340.  Cursor M., 11615 (Fairf.). Þen come þe propheci alle clere Þat spokin was of þat childe dere.

a. 1592.  Greene & Lodge, Looking Gl., Wks. (1861), 127. Tell me how this man came dead.

1593.  Abp. Bancroft, Dang. Positions, IV. vii. 156. How Coppinger and Arthington came acquainted with Hacket.

1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., II. iii. 57. So came I a Widow. Ibid. (1606), Tr. & Cr., I. ii. 132. How came it clouen?

1667.  Milton, P. L., IX. 563. Say, How cam’st thou speakable of mute.

1771.  Smollett, Humph. Cl., II. 238. She had had the good fortune to come acquainted with a pious Christian.

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., xxii. The brown-paper parcel had ‘come untied.’

1889.  A. Lang, Pr. Prigio, xvii. 136. Lo and behold! each knight came alive, with his horse.

1889.  Mrs. Riddell, P’cess Sunshine, I. iv. 71. All would come right between her and her old friends.

  b.  To prove in the issue, event, or experience; to turn out to be.

1862.  Trench, Mirac., Introd. 5. When that ‘sign’ comes true.

1878.  Scribn. Mag., XVI. 476/2. It will come very cheap to you.

1889.  Mrs. H. L. Cameron, Lost Wife, I. i. 9. Poverty comes hard upon the old.

1889.  Mrs. Oliphant, Poor Gentleman, III. iv. 62. It may come easier afterwards.

1889.  Mrs. M. Caird, Wing of Azrael, III. xxxviii. 194. In point of fact, my dear … you come rather expensive.

  c.  For individual idioms, e.g., to come true, to come natural, etc., see TRUE, etc.

  IV.  To become, belong.

  † 25.  To become, be becoming or appropriate (to), belong or pertain to, befit. (L. convenire.) Obs.

1297.  R. Glouc. (1724), 420. ‘Ne wep noȝt’ he sede … vor yt ne comþ noȝt to þe [v.r. Hit by cometh nat the].

a. 1400.  Life Cuthbert (MS. Trin. Coll. Oxf. 57). No suche idell games it ne cometh [1290 Laud MS. bi-cometh] the to worche.

a. 1400–50.  Alexander, 627. It come noȝt a kyng son … to sytt Doune in margon & molle emange othire schrewis. Ibid., 3974. It comes to na kyng … To latt his pepill þus pas & perisch in ydill.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 2181. Hit shuld come you by course, as of kynd childer, To be sory for my sake.

a. 1529.  Skelton, Agst. Garnesche, Wks. II. 129. It cumys the better for to dryue A dong cart or a tumrelle. Ibid., 101. Yt commyth the wele me to remorde.

a. 1670.  Hacket, Abp. Williams, I. (1692), 118. That which comes to the institute I handle was thus endicted.

  V.  Come and go.

  26.  Come is often used in association with go, to contrast or include the two motions or results.

  a.  To come to a place and depart again, whether for once, or with repetition; to pass to and fro.

1382.  Wyclif, Mark vi. 31. There weren manye that camen, and wenten aȝen [1611 There were many comming and going].

1434.  Jas. I., Lett., in Harding’s Chron. (1812), p. vii. Lettres of … sauf condute saufely to comme and go to our presence.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 128. It was agreed that … The Citizens of London should come and go toll free.

1598.  Shaks., Merry W., II. ii. 130. Hee may come and goe betweene you both.

1655.  Fuller, Ch. Hist., II. vi. § 29. What solemn Festivalls people may come and goe of.

1864.  Tennyson, Grandmother, xx. She comes and goes at her will.

  b.  To be first present and then absent; to approach and recede; to appear and disappear alternately; also of time, to arrive and pass.

c. 1340.  Cursor M., 1851 (Fairf.). Til vij skores dayes ware comme and gan.

c. 1400.  Sowdone Bab., 1631. vj dayes be comyn and goon.

1589.  Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, I. xxiv. (Arb.), 62. For worldly goods they come and go, as things not long proprietary to any body.

1595.  Shaks., John, IV. ii. 76. The colour of the King doth come, and go Betweene his purpose and his conscience.

a. 1600.  ‘Hempe’ prophecy, in Whole Prophecies Scotl. (1615). When Hempe is come and also gone, Scotland and England shall be all one.

1627.  Drayton, Moon-calf, Wks. 1753, II. 492. After many years were com’n and gone.

1719.  De Foe, Crusoe (1840), II. vi. 141. His colour came and went.

1833.  Tennyson, Fatima, iii. My swift blood that went and came.

1849.  Tait’s Mag., XVI. 299/1. Night’s shadows come and go.

  c.  fig. To exercise liberty of action.

1864.  Burton, Scot Abr., I. ii. 99. There being thus, in titles … considerable room to come and go upon.

  d.  In various proverbs and phrases.

15[?].  Debate Carpenter’s Tools, in Halliw., Nugæ P., 13. That lyghtly cum schall lyghtly go.

1660.  Charac. Italy, 13. The old Proverb, Male parta, male dilabuntur, Badly come, badly go.

1833.  New Monthly Mag., XXXVIII. 192. ‘Lightly come, lightly go,’ is his maxim.

1865.  B. Brierley, Irkdale, I. 25. A jolly, come-day, go-day fellow … he never saved a farthing in his life.

1876.  Whitby Gloss., Come day, Gan day, God send Sunday, the saying … of indolent workers, who care not how the days come and go, provided they have little to do.

  VI.  Quasi-trans. uses. [The object is usually an adverbial accusative.]

  27.  To come it (slang): to ‘come out with it,’ in various senses: see quots.

c. 1690.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Has he come it? has he lent it you?

1812.  J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., Come it, to divulge a secret … they say of a thief who has turned evidence against his accomplices, that he is coming all he knows, or that he comes it as strong as a horse.

1873.  Slang Dict., s.v., Also, in pugilistic phraseology, to COME IT means to show fear; and in this respect, as well as in that of giving information, the expression ‘COME IT’ is best known to the lower and most dangerous classes.

  28.  To act, to practise, to perform one’s part; as in To come it strong, etc. slang and colloq.

1812.  [see prec.].

1825.  New Monthly Mag., XIII. 546. Can’t you come it melancholy?

1825.  C. M. Westmacott, Eng. Spy, I. 86. Or in a stanhope come it strong.

1838.  Dickens, Nich. Nick., xxiii. I can come it pretty well—nobody better, perhaps, in my own line.

1854.  De Quincey, Casuistry Rom. Meals, Wks. III. 250. But it was coming it too strong to allow no tobacco.

1888.  McCarthy & Mrs. Praed, Ladies’ Gallery, I. ii. 48. That is coming it a little too strong.

  b.  To play or practise (a dodge or trick), esp. over any one; to ‘come over’ him (see 43 f) with that dodge. slang and colloq.

1785.  Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, To come Yorkshire over any one, to cheat him.

1855.  Thackeray, Newcomes, II. 253. Barnes is trying to come the religious dodge.

1865.  J. Hatton, Bitter Sweets, xxii. Don’t come that dodge over me.

1873.  Slang Dict., s.v., Don’t come tricks here.

  c.  To play, act the part of. Const. over a person, i.e., at his expense, or so as to get the better of him. So to come it with any one. slang or colloq.

  [In French they say at Tennis ‘laissez-moi venir ce couplà,’ let me come that stroke, i.e., play it; so at cards ‘laissez-moi venir cette main,’ let me come that hand.]

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., xliv. That man, sir … has comic powers that would do honour to Drury Lane Theatre…. Hear him come the four cats in the wheelbarrow.

1841.  J. T. Hewlett, Parish Clerk, II. 173. Suspecting that he was playing a game of his own, and ‘coming the deep file over him.’

1850.  Tait’s Mag., XVII. 691/1. You’ll have the stove at your head, you lanky beast, if you try to come the bully over me—you thief, you will.

1850.  Kingsley, Alt. Locke, xiii. He intends to come the Mirabeau—fancies his mantle has fallen on him.

1861.  Dickens, Gt. Expect., vii. Your sister comes the Mogul over us, now and again.

1890.  Philips & Wills, Sybil Ross’s Marriage, xviii. 126. It’s no use a-trying to come it with me, mister; you’ve got swell writ big all over ye, and no mistake.

  29.  To attain to, reach, achieve. dial. and colloq.

1888.  Berksh. Gloss., s.v., ‘I can’t quite come that’ (= that is beyond me).

1888.  in W. Somerset Word-bk.

  b.  To come a cropper, a colcher (colloq.): see CROPPER, COLSH.

  30.  To come or be coming six, etc.: to be in one’s sixth year of age. Said esp. of horses, or the like, for which rising is now the usual phrase.

1675.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1008/4. Brownish bay Gelding about 14 hands high, coming seven years old. Ibid. (1682), No. 1766/4. She is in Fole, and cometh six.

1778.  Learning at a Loss, I. 58. A young Fellow as I am, just coming four and twenty.

1858–65.  Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., I. VI. iii. 161. Wilhelmina, now a slim maiden coming nineteen. Ibid., III. IX. vii. 130. Princess Elizabeth … age eighteen coming.

  31.  To come any one thanks: to tender thanks. (Here come may be a perversion of CON.) Now dial.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., V. xv. 563. And thei wolen not come her thankis.

1883.  Huddersfield Gloss., s.v. Cum thank, ‘I cum ye no thank, I acknowledge no thanks to you. [So elsewhere in mod. dialects.]

  VII.  Special uses of certain parts of the verb.

  32.  To come, the dative infinitive [OE. to cumenne], is used (like F. à venir):

  a.  predicatively, after vb. to be. [This construction does not differ from that found with other verbs, as in ‘he is to go,’ ‘we are to speak,’ etc.]

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. xi. 3. Eart þu þe to cumenne eart?

c. 1205.  Lay., 16037. Or þire mucle kare þa þe is to cumene [c. 1275 þat þe is comene].

1388.  Wyclif, 1 Tim. iv. 8. That hath a biheest of lijf that now is, and that is to come [1382 and to comynge].

1611.  Bible, ibid. Promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

1678.  Bunyan (title), The Pilgrim’s Progress from this world to that which is to come.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 566. He sees what is, and was, and is to come.

1710.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4637/4. ’Tis Leasehold, and twenty two years to come.

1889.  Philips & Wills, Fatal Phryne, I. iii. 61. All their troubles were to come.

  b.  attributively (after sb.) = That is to come, coming, future.

1382.  Wyclif, Matt. iii. 7. Who shewide to ȝou for to flee fro wrath to cumme [v.r. comynge; 1388 that is to come].

c. 1400.  Apol. Loll., 5. In þis tyme, and in tyme to come.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531), 4. Shadowes of thynges to come.

1526.  Tindale, Hebr. vi. 5. The power of the worlde to come [Wyclif, the world to comynge].

1611.  Bible, Ex. xiii. 14. When thy sonne asketh thee in time to come.

1763.  Crabbe, Village, II. 194. Oh! make the Age to come thy better care.

1827.  Pollok, Course T., V. Unwelcome earnest of the woe to come.

1874.  Mrs. Hollings First Impres. ii. 15. Bright dreams of happiness yet to come.

  c.  absol. The future. [In Shaks. not clearly sb.]

1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., I. iii. 108. Past, and to Come, seemes best; things Present, worst.

1623.  Lisle, Ælfric on O. & N. T., Ded. How of all things the Summe Shewes joy in thee, for present and to come.

1821.  Shelley, Hellas.

1839–48.  Bailey, Festus, v. 43. It is fear which beds the far to-come with fire.

1840.  Mrs. Browning, Drama of Exile, Poems 1850, I. 59. Scorning the Past and damning the To come.

  β.  To coming, in late ME., was app. a confusion of cumenne, comen, with the vbl. sb. coming.

1382.  Wyclif, 1 Tim. vi. 19. A good foundement into tyme to comynge.

c. 1400.  Beryn, 347. This nyȝte þat is to comyng.

c. 1430.  Hymns Virg. (1867), 81. And so is it þat is to comyng ȝit.

1483.  Caxton, Gold. Leg., 239/1. The first fruyte of the to comyng haruest. Ibid. (1490), Eneydos (E.E.T.S.), 4. My tocomynge naturell and souerayn Lord.

  33.  Come, the imperative, (beside its ordinary use as an invitation to approach or join the speaker) is used as an invitation or encouragement to action, usually along with or on the side of the speaker.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Luke xx. 14. Her ys se yrfeweard … cumaþ uton hine ofslean.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 2030 (Cott.). Cum, broiþer, here and se.

1382.  Wyclif, Mark xii. 7. This is the eier; come ȝe, sle we him.

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., 44. Com kys us bothe.

1526.  Tindale, Mark xii. 7. Come let vs kyll hym.

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., V. i. 114. Come go, I will fall prostrate at his feete.

1616.  Pasquil & Kath., V. 69. Come, Brabant, giue me my Cloke.

1669.  Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., I. 16. Come my hearts, have up your Anchor that we may have a good Prize. Come, Who say Amen.

1803.  Scott, ‘Bonnie Dundee.’ Come fill up my cup, come fill up my can, Come saddle my horses and call out my men.

  b.  As a call or appeal to a person to bethink himself, implying impatience, remonstrance, or, more usually, mild protest or deprecation on the speaker’s part. Often emphasized by repetition, or by the addition of such words as now, then, but.

c. 1340.  Cursor M., App. ii. 823. Come þou art mys-bileuyd.

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., I. ii. 68. Come Dromio, come, these iests are out of season. Ibid. (1603), Meas. for M., II. i. 119. Come: you are a tedious foole.

1671.  Milton, Samson, 1708. Come, come, no time for lamentation now.

1688.  S. Penton, Guardian’s Instr., 41. Come, come, act like a man.

1722.  De Foe, Col. Jack (1840), 160. Come, come, colonel, says he, don’t flatter me.

1825.  New Monthly Mag., XIII. 422. Oh! oh! come now, softly. It is not fair.

1838.  Dickens, O. Twist, xvi. Come, come, Sikes … we must have civil words.

1887.  Margaret A. Curtois, Tracked, II. xxv. 273. ‘Oh, come, now,’ he faltered, ‘that’s rather strong, you know; you have confessed, after all, and they won’t hang a boy like you.’

  34.  Come, the present conj., is used in such phrases as ‘come what may, or will’ [cf F. vienne que vienne, It. venga che venga, Ger. es komme was da will!], ‘come weal, come woe.’ Also in ‘come what might, or would,’ where the sense is past.

1583.  Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. 77. They will to all kinde of wanton pastimes … with come that come will.

[a. 1677.  Barrow, Serm. (1686), III. 328. Say what you can, let what will come on it.]

1790.  Burns, My Nanie, viii. Come weel, come woe, I care na by.

1843.  Browning, Blot in ’Scutcheon, I. iii. IV. 21. Come what come will, You have been happy.

1881.  Saintsbury, Dryden, 187. Follow out that scheme, come wind, come weather.

1888.  Mrs. Riddell, Nun’s Curse, II. v. 100. Come weal, come woe, I shall not trouble you.

  35.  Come, the present conj., is used with a future date following as subject, as in Fr. dix-huit ans vienne la Saint-Martin,—viennent les Pâques, ‘eighteen years old come Martinmas,—come Easter’; i.e., let Easter come, when Easter shall come. arch. and dial.

a. 1420.  Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ. (Roxb.), 29. Twenty yere come Estren.

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. iii. 17. Come Lammas Eue at night shall she be fourteene.

1799.  Southey, Eng. Eclog., VII. Come Candlemas, and I have been their servant For five-and-forty years.

1839.  Longf., Hyperion, ii. (1882), 16. It all happened … four years ago, come Christmas.

1883.  Lloyd, Ebb & Flow, II. 21. For twenty years come Michaelmas.

1888.  Mrs. Riddell, Nun’s Curse, II. vii. 135. You’ll grant me a seven years’ lease come next May twelvemonth.

  b.  Also with an interval of time (week, month, year, etc.) following and qualifying a date, as in ‘Thursday come fortnight,’ where the literary language now has ‘Thursday fortnight,’ but the full phrase is retained dialectally.

1417.  in E. E. Wills (1882), 39. He schele Haue … xv. li. at Esteren next, and x li at Esteren come twelmonthe.

1478.  in Acta Dom. Concilii, 20 (Jam.). On Monunday come aucht dais.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 308. The thirde Million, to be payde … at Mighelmas come a yere after the agreement.

1631.  Rutherford, Lett., No. 18 (1862), I. 76. Our Communion is on Sabbath come eight days.

1640.  Ho. Com. Order, in Rushw. III. (1692), I. 141. Ordered, That the business … be put off till Thursday come fortnight.

1692.  Ord. City Lond., 19 June, in Entick, London (1766), IV. 231. On Thursday next come seven-night.

1724.  Berkeley, Lett., 8 Dec., Wks. 1871, IV. 110. Provided you bring my affair … to a complete issue before Christmas day come twelvemonth.

Mod. colloq.  The lease will expire at Midsummer come a year.

Mod. Sc.  We expect him on Monday come eight days.

  36.  Coming, pres. pple., used of age: see 30.

  b.  A response by a servant or any one who is called: = ‘I am coming,’ ‘directly!’

[a. 1300.  Floriz & Bl., 573. Clarice … haþ icluped blauncheflur … Quaþ blauncheflur ‘ihc am cominge,’ Ac heo hit sede al slepinge.]

1701.  Farquhar, Sir H. Wildair, II. i. Commend me to a boy and a bell; Coming, coming, sir! Much noise, no attendance, and a dirty room.

1709.  Addison, Tatler, No. 131, ¶ 9. Coming, Coming, Sir, (said he) with the Air of a Drawer.

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, VIII. ii. I think I hear somebody call. Coming, coming!

  VIII.  With prepositions (and prepositional phrases), in specialized senses.

  (For ordinary prepositional constructions see 3.)

  37.  Come across ——. To cross the path of; to meet, meet with; to fall in with by chance.

1810.  Pike, Sources Mississ., I. 20. Saw great sign of elk, but had not the good fortune to come across any of them.

1849.  Tait’s Mag., XVI. 226/1. The recollection … came across my mind.

1886.  F. Harrison, Choice Bks., 85. I came across a very curious book.

  38.  Come at —— (= L. accēdere). † a. To approach; to come to, come so as to be present at. Obs.

1000–1537.  [see AT 12 a].

1483.  Caxton, G. de la Tour, D viij b. Many ladyes and damoysels were come at the weddyng of a maide.

1625.  K. Long, trans. Barclay’s Argenis, II. viii. (1636), 151. Oleodemus … would not come at the Court.

1658–9.  Burton’s Diary (1828), IV. 42. I will never come at that Committee again.

1737.  Whiston, Josephus’ Hist., IV. viii. § 3. This country is then so sadly burnt up that nobody cares to come at it.

  † b.  To come into bodily contact or sexual connexion with. Obs.

1535.  Coverdale, Ex. xix. 15. Be ready agaynst the thirde daye, and no man come at his wife. Ibid., Ezek. xliv. 25. They shal come at no deed persone, to defyle them selues.

1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. (1586), 156 b. After the Catte hath kitned, she commeth no more at the Bucke.

a. 1641.  Bp. Mountagu, Acts & Mon. (1642), 433. Both [men and women] may well heare the reader … but not come at each other.

  c.  To get at, reach (with implied effort), get hold of, obtain. (With indirect passive.)

1340.  [see AT 12 c].

1532.  More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. 695/2. We can neuer come at it withoute the helpe of God.

1669.  Worlidge, Syst. Agric., vii. § 7 (1681), 128. If they [mice] can come at them, you will have but few left.

1746.  Lucas, in Phil. Trans., XLIV. 464. They are cheap, easily come at, and prepared by one’s self.

1781.  Ann. Reg., Chron., 179/1. The defendant, being … abroad, could not be come at.

1832.  Blackw. Mag., Jan., 133/1. Lord Brougham’s opinion of democracy is hard to come at.

1889.  Stevenson, Master of B., iii. 64. How to come at the path.

  d.  To dart at, make for, attack.

1651–7.  T. Barker, Angling (1820), 20. The Salmon will come at a Gudgeon.

1889.  A. Lang, Pr. Prigio, ix. 65. He rose on a pair of flaming wings, and came right at the prince.

  39.  Come by ——. See BY prep. 15.

  † a.  To happen to, befall (a person). Obs.

1523.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. 717. Bycause they rode forthe lyke foles, so it came by them.

  b.  To come near, or within reach of, to get at; hence, to get hold of, become possessed of, obtain, receive. Originally implying effort, but in later use often said of getting things by chance or involuntarily, to meet with. (With indirect passive.)

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 296. Alle þat he mot com bie he robbed.

c. 1350.  Will. Palerne, 1688. Miȝt we by coyntise com bi tvo skynnes of the breme beres.

c. 1430.  Syr Gener. (Roxb.), 8591. The ring … I may not come therbi.

1526.  Tindale, Acts xxvii. 16. We … had moche worke to come by a bote.

1531.  Elyot, Gov., I. x. Greke … is hardest to come by.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 218. It could not be perceyved howe he [Edw. II.] came by his death.

1601.  Shaks., Twel. N., I. v. 131. Cosin, Cosin, how haue you come so earely by this Lethargie?

1622.  Callis, Stat. Sewers (1647), 96. That the party so distrained hath a direct remedy to come by his losses.

1739.  R. Bull, trans. Dedekindus’ Grobianus, 146. The hindmost man comes ever by the worst.

1866.  Kingsley, Herew., xv. The rogues have fallen out, and honest men may come by their own.

1883.  Buchanan, Love me for Ever, II. v. 130. This gold is honestly come by.

  Come from ——: see 11.

  40.  Come into ——. a. See 12.

  † b.  To accede to, agree to; to fall in with (a proposal); to yield to. Obs.

1722.  De Foe, Plague (1754), 27. The poor People came into it so eagerly. Ibid. (1725), Voy. round World (1840), 19. The rest, who had all opposed me before, came cheerfully into my proposal.

1739.  Gray, in Gosse, Life (1882), 30. The women did not come into it.

1753.  Miss Collier, Art Torment., III. 219. But be sure to lose this whole day, by coming into no proposal for pleasure.

1828.  Sir W. Scott, Tales of a Grandfather, Ser. I. xxiii. (1841), 78/1. That he ought not to … come into the King’s will.

  c.  To come into possession of.

[1772.  Town & Country Mag., 23. On his coming into the possession of an estate.]

1833.  New Monthly Mag., XXXVIII. 68. I came into a property of one hundred thousand pounds.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 381. A bald little tinker who has just … come into a fortune.

1888.  Mrs. Riddell, Nun’s Curse, II. iii. 51. Now ‘he had come into his own.’

  d.  To enter upon (office or power).

1728.  Swift, Intelligencer, No 5, ¶ 2. With a perpetual wrong Judgment, when the Owners come into Power and high Place, how to dispose of Favour and Preferment.

1804.  J. Taylor, Def. Admin. T. Jefferson, 8. Considering the peculiar circumstances, under which the present Chief Magistrate came into office, the people had a right to expect from him a full and habitual disclosure of his measures.

1820.  Examiner, No. 617. 83/2. The year in which the Coalition came into power.

1844.  Fraser’s Mag., XXX. 745/1. The Whigs came into office.

  41.  Come of ——. a. See 11. b. = Become of.

1590.  Marlowe, Tamburl., II. iii. What thinks’t thou, man, shall come of our attempts?

1849.  Thackeray, Van. Fair (1856), 320. What has come of Major Dobbin?

  42.  Come on ——. = Come upon, 48.

1549.  Compl. Scotl., 6. The iminent dangeir that vas cummand on the realme of France.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 295. Then the kinges battaile came on the Englishe men.

1585.  James I., Ess. in Poesie (Arb.), 23. As the Pilgrim … Cumd on the parting of two wayes at night.

1777.  Sheridan, Sch. Scand., II. ii. A right to come on any of the endorsers.

1840.  Dickens, Barn. Rudge, lxxviii. The popular expression of ‘coming on the parish.’

1850.  Tait’s Mag., XVII. 478/1. The change had come on them like a shot.

1864.  Tennyson, E. Arden, 149. Moving homeward [Enoch] came on Annie.

  b.  Obs. and dial. for come of.

a. 1677.  [see 34].

1687.  Burnet, Cont. Refl. Varillas, 27. I saw what would come on it, if he would not be at that charge.

  43.  Come over ——. a. See 3.

  † b.  To exceed, surpass. Obs.

1478.  Paston Lett., No. 816, III. 225. That comth over the reseytys in my exspenses I have borowd.

1599.  Shaks., Much Ado, V. ii. 7. M. Will you then write me a Sonnet in praise of my beautie? B. In so high a stile Margaret, that no man liuing shall come ouer it.

  c.  To come as an overshadowing or overmastering influence; to take possession of (figuratively). (Connected with the next by the phrase ‘a change has come over him.’) Come over with (Shaks.): cf. 7.

1599.  Shaks., Hen. V., I. ii. 267. How he comes o’re vs with our wilder dayes. Ibid. (1604), Oth., IV. i. 20. It comes ore my memorie, As doth the Rauen o’re the infectious house: Boading to all.

1714.  Jrnl. W. Edmundson, Pref. 5. A general Apostacy came over Professed Christians.

1841.  Lever, C. O’Malley, iii. Certain misgivings came over me.

1888.  McCarthy & Mrs. C. Praed, Ladies’ Gallery, II. xi. 180. Sometimes … it comes over me that this is all a piece of acting.

1889.  Chamb. Jrnl., 2 Nov., 699/1. That … look once more came over his face.

  d.  To overtake, befall, happen to.

1848.  Mrs. Gaskell, M. Barton, i. ‘I’m sorry for the girl, for bad ’s come over her.’ Ibid., vi. ‘There’s a change comed over him … is there not?’

1857.  Buckle, Civiliz., I. xiii. 734. [This] showed the change that had come over him.

1888.  Farjeon, Miser Farebrother, II. vii. 96. What had come over Bob?

  † e.  To overcome, dominate over. Obs.

1668.  Pepys, Diary, 20 Jan. Against the French power coming over them or us.

  f.  To get the better of by craft, impose upon. colloq. or slang. (With indirect pass.) Cf. 28 b.

1822.  Scott, Pirate, iv. Old Jasper Yellowley had been come over by a certain noble Scottish Earl.

1840.  Dickens, Barn. Rudge, xx. Not feeling quite certain … whether he might not be ‘coming over her’ with these compliments.

1883.  Mrs. F. Mann, Parish of Hilby, vii. 90. To cross that lady’s assumed intention of ‘coming over her.’

  g.  To get over. dial.

1888.  Mrs. Jocelyn, £100,000 versus Ghosts, II. iv. 68. It all seems so sudden like, Miss Kate, I can’t come over that.

  44.  Come round ——. To get round, get the better of by craft, circumvent. colloq.

1830.  trans. Aristoph., 247. How he comes round you with his sophistry!

Mod.  ‘You can’t come round me in that way.’

  45.  Come to ——.

  a.  See 3, and other senses passim.

  † b.  To get at, attain, get possession of. Obs.

c. 1314.  Guy Warw. (A.), 308. Y loue þing y no may com to.

c. 1340.  Cursor M., 18409 (Trin.). How coom þou to þat gode.

1545.  Ascham, Toxoph. (Arb.), 124. To come to theyr lyuyng.

1586.  A. Day, Eng. Secretary, II. (1625), 99. It is requisite you prove, either that you had them by chance … or otherwise, that by some gift you came to them.

  c.  To succeed in due course to. (Cf. 8 b, 40 c.)

1580.  Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 452. This clemencie did hir maiestie … shew at hir comming to the crowne.

1605.  B. Jonson, Volpone, III. v. To use his fortune With reverence when he comes to it.

1674.  trans. Machiavel’s Florentine Hist., I. 34. Urban the Second was now come to the Papacy.

1711.  Steele, Spect., No. 113, ¶ 3. I came to my Estate in my Twenty second Year.

1773.  Goldsm., Stoops to Conq., I. What a pity the ’squire is not come to his own.

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 13. When he came to the crown.

  d.  To amount to (a stated sum or number).

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 63. It wole come to sixti þousand mark þat he robbiþ of þe kingis lige men.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), xxii. 104. Þe somme … commez to fyue hundreth thowsand florenez.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 16. The dayes of the pilgrymage of my lyfe … come not to y^e dayes of my forefathers.

1724.  De Foe, Mem. Cavalier (1840), 72. Let us put it all together, and see what it will come to.

1885.  Sir R. Baggallay, in Law Times’ Rep., LII. 671/1. The proceeds of the sale came to over 5000l.

  e.  To amount to in price, to cost.

1596.  Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., II. iv. 84. In Barbary sir, it cannot come to so much.

1672.  Petty, Pol. Anat. (1691), 52. The Gallon of Milk comes but to a Farthing.

Mod.  This pair will come to about a guinea.

  f.  fig. To ‘amount to,’ be equivalent to, mean.

1768.  Sterne, Sent. Journ., Montriul. It comes to the same thing, said I.

1825.  New Monthly Mag., XIV. 327. You don’t eat any thing. What, is your leg so bad as that comes to?

1825.  Waterton, Wand. S. Amer., i. 12. It comes nearly to the same thing in the end.

1879.  M. J. Guest, Lect. Hist. Eng., xix. 178 The first [dispute] really came to the question whether the bishops and archbishops were subjects of the king or of the Pope.

1888.  McCarthy & Mrs. C. Praed, Ladies’ Gallery, II. iv. 49. I am not exactly such a pig as that comes to.

  g.  To issue or result in, to turn in the end to; in such phrases as to come to much, to little, to nought, when all comes to all, if the worst come to the worst, etc.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 233. This voyage … came to nothing.

1611.  Bible, Hag. i. 9. Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little.

1699.  Dampier, Voy., II. I. i. 14. Nor was it his fault that it came to nothing.

1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, vii. (1720), 123. Not one Grain of that I sow’d this time came to anything.

1814.  Jane Austen, Mansf. Park (1847), 172. His falling in love with Julia had come to nothing.

1888.  F. Warden, Witch of Hills, II. xvi. 60. If the worst comes to the worst.

  h.  Come to oneself (one’s senses): (a) To recover consciousness; to become conscious again after sleep, a swoon, etc.

1340.  Ayenb., 128. Ac þanne he heþ y-slepe and comþ to him-zelue.

c. 1489.  Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, iv. 122. She felle doun in a swoune … And whan she was come agen to herselfe.

1586.  T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., I. (1589), 491. She fell downe amazed: and being come to hir selfe againe, said unto them, etc.

1637.  Blunt, Voy. Levant, 16. The hurt person comming to his senses, cleared me, telling how it came and by whom.

1722.  De Foe, Col. Jack (1840), 285. When she was come to herself enough to talk again.

1890.  S. R. Gardiner, in Dict. Nat. Biog. XXII. 319/1. At the news of the execution of Charles I he [Montrose] fainted, and when he came to himself swore to avenge him.

  (b)  To come to one’s right mind, recover from excitement, passion, or self-abandonment.

1526.  Tindale, Luke xv. 17. Then he came to him selfe and sayde [etc.].

c. 1680.  Beveridge, Serm. (1729), I. 527. Zaccheus … being come unto himself, as soon as Christ was come into his house.

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, XVIII. ii. But at last, having vented the first torrent of passion, he came a little to himself.

1883.  Black, Yolande, III. vii. 129. The people … may come to their senses.

  46.  Come under ——. a. See 6 b.

  b.  To rank, fall, or be classed under (a general title, etc.), to be included under.

1662.  Stillingfl., Orig. Sacr., III. iv. § 10. So both Greece and Italy come under the name of the Isles of the Gentiles.

1816.  Byron, in Moore, Life, 301. Anything of mine coming under the description of his request.

1889.  Cornh. Mag., Dec., 567. It might come under the head of useful knowledge.

  c.  To be brought under the operation of, to be subjected to.

1714.  W. Edmundson, Journal, 7. All my parts came under this Exercise.

1887.  The Lady, 20 Jan., 38/3. The owners perhaps came under the guillotine.

1889.  Law Rep., Appeal Cases, XIV. 533. They had each come under liability to pay the balance due.

1890.  Jrnl. Education, 1 Jan., 27/2. Those pupils who … had come under his personal influence.

  47.  Come unto ——. a. See 3.

  † b.  = Come to, 45 d. Obs.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 308. Three Millions of Scutes of Gold … the which do come unto sterlyng money, fyve hundreth thousand pound.

1660.  T. Willsford, Scales Commerce, I. III. 108. How much comes 10d. a day unto by the year?

  48.  Come upon ——. a. See 3. The special senses are generally derived from the notion of something descending, alighting, or swooping down, with force or weight, upon one; cf. come down upon, 56 g.

  b.  To attack, esp. suddenly or by surprise.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, XIV. 509. [Thai] Cum sa hardely Apon all the gret cheuelry of Yrland.

c. 1460.  Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714), 89. To resyste our Ennemyes, whan they list to come upon us.

1611.  Bible, Gen. xxxiv. 25. And came vpon the citie boldly, and slew all the males.

1780.  Coxe, Russian Discov., 191. Katcham … came with such rapidity upon the Russians as to preclude the use of their arms.

1816.  Byron, in Moore, Life, 325. They come upon you in bodies of thirty … at a time.

1827.  Scott, Tales Grandf., Ser. I. viii. To come upon him suddenly and by night.

  c.  Said of a divine visitation, retribution, curse, blessing, honor, calamity, etc.

1382.  Wyclif, Deut. xxviii. 2. And there shulen come vpon thee alle thes blissyngis. Ibid., 15. And … shulen come vpon thee alle thes malysouns.

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. lxxvii[i]. 31. The heuy wrath of God came vpon them, slewe y^e welthiest of them.

1611.  Bible, Job xxix. 13. The blessing of him that was readie to perish, came vpon me.

1714.  Jrnl. W. Edmundson, Pref. 29. Calamity that was coming upon this Nation.

1832.  Tennyson, Lady Shalott, III. v. ‘The curse is come upon me,’ cried The Lady of Shalott.

  d.  Said of overmastering influences, physical or mental.

1382.  Wyclif, Ps. liv. 6 [lv. 5]. Drede and trembling camen vp on me.

1611.  Bible, 2 Chron. xiv. 14. The feare of the Lord came vpon them.

1714.  W. Edmundson, Jrnl., 25. About this time it came weightily upon me to leave Shop-keeping.

1850.  Tait’s Mag., XVII. 402/1. A temporary madness seems to have come upon the people.

1886.  McCarthy & Praed, Right Hon’ble, III. xxviii. 39. It came upon her now that something subtler … lay at the root.

  e.  To make an authoritative demand or claim upon (a party liable).

1605.  B. Jonson, Volpone, V. iv. I’ll come upon him For that, hereafter.

1625.  Massinger, New Way, IV. ii. Sir Giles Will come upon you for security For his thousand pounds.

1701.  W. Wotton, Hist. Rome, 466. Turinus then came upon him for the Money.

1840.  Dickens, Barn. Rudge, lxxviii. In the damage done to the Maypole, he could ‘come upon the county.’

1850.  Tait’s Mag., XVII. 725/2. They might come upon me afterward, and make me pay up.

  f.  To become legally chargeable on (any charity); to become a burden on.

1833.  New Monthly Mag., XXXVII. 278. He had saved money, and could not come upon the parish.

1850.  Tait’s Mag., XVII. 336/2. So Betty came upon the parish with all her children.

  g.  To meet with or fall in with a person or place as it were by chance.

1773.  Goldsm., Stoops to Conq., I. You are to go sideways till you come upon Crack-skull Common.

1820.  Examiner, No. 637. 414/2. She came upon us by surprise.

1849.  Tait’s Mag., XVI. 154/1. The travellers soon came upon a village.

1865.  Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., III. 256. I came upon Geraldine in Cheyne Row.

  Come within ——: see 6, and WITHIN.

  IX.  With adverbs: forming the equivalents of compound verbs in other languages: e.g., come again, L. revenīre, F. revenir, Ger. wiederkommen.

  Come is used with adverbs generally, esp. adverbs implying motion toward, as hither, together; only those in which the sense is more or less specialized are here dealt with.

  49.  Come about.

  a.  To arrive in the course of revolution; to revolve, ‘come round.’

1530.  Palsgr., 489/1. I was borne this day twenty yeres, as the yeres come aboute.

1602.  Carew, Cornwall (1811), 187. Each entertaining such foreign acquaintance, as will not fail, when their like turn cometh about, to requite him with the like kindness.

1703.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 189. If the Diameter of the Rowler be smaller, the work comes so much swifter about.

1826.  [see c].

1889.  Mrs. Riddell, P’cess Sunshine, I. vi. 96. That movable feast … came about in due season.

  † b.  Naut. Or the wind: To turn, esp. into a more favorable quarter; to veer round. Obs.

1556.  W. Towrson, in Hakluyt, Voy. (1589), 99. This after noone the winde came about.

1694.  Narborough, Acc. Sev. Late Voy., I. 176. From the 10th … to this day Noon, the Wind at North-north-west … At Noon … the Wind came about at South.

1708.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4464/7. The Wind coming about … to the S.W. the Fleet was oblig’d to alter its Course.

  c.  To come round to a person’s side or opinion; to turn into a more satisfactory mood, or state; = Come round c, d. Obs. or dial.

1609.  B. Jonson, Sil. Wom., IV. i. The Lady Haughty looks well to-day, for all my dispraise of her … I think I shall come about to thee again.

1775.  Sheridan, Rivals, I. ii. If you were just to let the servants forget to bring her dinner for three or four days, you can’t conceive how she’d come about.

1826.  Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), II. 282. Some people … consoled themselves by saying things would come about again … They deceived themselves, things did not come about; the seasons came about, it was true; but something must be done to bring things about.

  d.  To come in the course of events; to come to pass, happen, turn out; to come to be as it is.

c. 1315.  Shoreham, 104. For feawe of ham conne the skele Hou senne aboute cometh.

c. 1430.  Syr Gener. (Roxb.), 8775. He meruelled hou it cam aboute.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., V. ii. 391. And let me speake … How these things came about.

1697.  Collier, Ess. Mor. Subj., II. (1709), 90. How comes it about that the Operations of Sense, and Reason vary so much?

1883.  Buchanan, Love me for Ever, IV. i. 220. What strange changes had come about in a year!

  † e.  To fulfil itself; to turn out true. Obs.

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. iii. 45. To see now how a Jest shall come about.

  50.  Come abroad.

  To come forth from house or seclusion; to come out; to appear before the public, become publicly known, be published. arch.

a. 1553.  Udall, Royster D., III. ii. (Arb.), 42. If he come abroade he shall cough me a mome.

1565–78.  Cooper, Thesaurus, Abdere se literis … to live unknowne in continualle studdy, and never to com a broade.

1576.  Fleming, Panoplie Ep., 204. Stay their edition, and let them not come abroad.

1582.  N. T. (Rhem.), Luke viii. 17. For there is not any thing … hid, that shall not be knowen, and come abrode.

1677.  Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., To Rdr. 3. Some Writings of mine have without my privity come abroad in Print.

1735.  Pope, Prol. Sat., 157. Did some more sober critic come abroad.

1823.  J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 17. The acid … usually comes abroad at five times the strength of vinegar.

  51.  Come again. (See simple senses and AGAIN, esp. A. 1 b.)

  a.  To come a second time, return.

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., 37. Go home, son, com sone agane.

a. 1555.  Latimer, Wks. (Parker Soc.), II. 442. But now, dearly beloved, to come again, be not ashamed of the Gospel of God.

1699.  Dampier, Voy., II. II. 22. As she recovered, and made a little way, she would come again to the Wind, till another Sea struck her off again.

1812.  Byron, Ch. Har., I. vii. Monks might deem their time was come again. Ibid. (1823), Juan, VIII. xxxv. But Johnson was a clever fellow, who Knew when and how ‘to cut and come again.’

  † b.  To return to a normal condition; to recover from a swoon, etc. Obs. or dial.

1535.  Coverdale, Judg. xv. 19. Whan he dranke, his sprete came agayne, and he was refreszshed.

1611.  Bible, 2 Kings v. 14. His fleshe came againe.

1818.  Edin. Mag., Dec., 503 (Jam.). My dochter was lang awa [in a swoon], but whan she cam again, she tauld us, etc.

  c.  To appear after death. dial. (Cf. F. revenu.)

1884.  Holland, Chesh. Gloss., s.v., I remember a gentleman, who was drowned whilst skating, was popularly believed to ‘come again.’

1831.  Oxfordsh. Gloss., Come again, to return after death. (Also in other dialect Glossaries.)

  52.  Come along.

  To move onward (toward or with the speaker): often used as an exhortation.

1694.  Narborough, Acc. Sev. Late Voy., I. (1711), 26. I kept a Light out all night, that the Pink might see if she came along.

1701.  Farquhar, Sir H. Wildair, II. i. Hang your family dinners! come along with me.

1734.  Pope, Ess. Man, IV. 373. Come then, my Friend! my Genius! come along.

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., ii. ‘Come along, then,’ said he of the green coat.

1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., xxxvii. I murmur’d, as I came along, Of comfort clasp’d in truth reveal’d.

  53.  Come away.

  a.  To come on one’s way: see AWAY 1.

  b.  To come from the place: see AWAY 2.

918.  [see AWAY 2].

1830.  Tennyson, Oriana. How could I rise and come away, Oriana? Ibid. (1864), North. Farmer, v. I thowt a said what a owt to ’a said an’ I coom’d awaäy.

  c.  To detach itself, separate: see AWAY 3.

Mod.  On grasping it, the handle came away in his hand. A part of the bone must come away first.

  † d.  To get on or along with; cf. AWAY 16.

1605.  Camden, Rem. (1637), 39. There are … many of the French [words] which the Italians can hardly come away withall.

  e.  To spring out of the ground; to grow apace.

1669.  Worlidge, Syst. Agric., vi. § 5 (1631), 98. For the first half dozen years they make no considerable advance, but afterwards they come away miraculously.

1765.  Earl Haddington, Forest-trees, 12. This I advise to be done with all the young plants, till they come away so heartily, that neither weed nor grass can stop them in their growth. [Now chiefly dial.]

  f.  To come forth, issue, turn out.

1823.  J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 139. No two makings coming away alike, but depending entirely upon accident.

  54.  Come back. (See BACK adv. 5–7.)

  a.  To return (hither), in space, or time; to return to a condition, to the memory, come to mind.

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. iii. 8. Nurse come backe againe.

1850.  Tait’s Mag., XVII. 665/1. He rallied, and gradually came back to consciousness.

1883.  Black, Yolande, II. xi. 198. Whatever happens, he cannot come back on you and say you had deceived him.

1890.  Miss Broughton, Alas!, I. ii., in Temple Bar Mag., LXXXVIII. Jan., 9 The very names of those children are coming back to him.

  b.  Sporting slang. To fall back, lose ground.

1885.  Times, 4 June, 10/3. Half way down the hill Royal Hampton began to come back to his horses.

1890.  Field, 29 March, 462/2. Wade succeeded in maintaining a lead … but from the seventh mile he began to ‘come back’ to his men.

  55.  Come by.

  a.  To come near, usually in passing; to pass.

1605.  Shaks., Macb., IV. i. 140. I did heare The gallopping of Horse. Who was’t came by?

1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 109, ¶ 1. There was a great Funeral coming by.

1842.  Tennyson, Walking to Mail. John. And when does this come by? James. The mail? At one o’clock.

  b.  To come aside. dial.

  56.  Come down.

  a.  To descend (hither), to come to what is, or is spoken of as, a lower place: see DOWN adv.

c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 5147. When Criste es common doun to deme.

1535.  Coverdale, Rev. xii. 12. The deuell is come downe vnto you.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 70. At length commeth downe from the Pope two Legates.

1773.  Goldsm., Stoops to Conq., I. ii. The gentleman that’s coming down to court my sister.

1850.  Tait’s Mag., XVII. 256/1. The Chancellor of the Exchequer comes down to the House of Commons.

1885.  Mrs. Lynn Linton, Chr. Kirkland, II. vi. 187. The rain came down like a white sheet.

  b.  To reach or extend in a downward direction.

1632.  Lithgow, Trav., VII. i. 353. Their women … whose vpper gownes come no further downe than their middle thighes.

1825.  New Monthly Mag., XV. 21. The latest accounts of the patient come down to the fifteenth day after the operation.

1849.  Tait’s Mag., XVI. 12/2. The … forest … comes down to the water’s edge.

  c.  To descend by birth (obs.) or tradition; to survive from an earlier time to the present.

a. 1400–50.  Wars Alex., 3156 (Ashm. MS.). Þat þai ware comen doun of kyngis.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 101, ¶ 7. Nothing of this Nature is come down to us.

1863.  H. Cox, Instit., III. ii. 599. To come down to later times.

1879.  M. J. Guest, Lect. Hist. Eng., xxxv. 352. The priests, like everybody else, believed in the fairies, but as the tales had come down from the old heathen times they considered them unchristian, and that they ought to be banished.

  d.  To fall, drop. (Chiefly in sporting phrase.)

1787.  ‘G. Gambado,’ Acad. Horsem. (1809), 25. The best bit of flesh that ever was crossed will certainly come down one day or another.

1803.  Pic Nic, No. 3 (1806), I. 108. Dr. F— … lost his equilibrium, and came down on the ice.

1888.  J. Payn, Myst. Mirbridge, xix. He spurred the animal to leap the horse-trough … and it came down with him.

1890.  Field, 8 March, 363/2. The giraffe he fired at came down.

  e.  To descend in rank or condition; to be humbled, abased, or degraded.

1382.  Wyclif, Jer. xlviii. 18. Cum doun fro glorie, sit in thirst, thou dwelling of the doȝter of Dibon.

1535.  Coverdale, Deut. xxviii. 43. Thou shalt come downe alowe.

1850.  Tait’s Mag., XVII. 633/2. Some folks who are so high will have to come down a peg.

1889.  Mrs. Riddell, P’cess Sunshine, I. i. 8. They had come down in the world.

  f.  To become reduced in size or amount; to be lowered.

1640.  in Rushw., Hist. Coll., III. (1692), I. 71. Resolved, That the Popish Commanders and Popish Officers shall be continued in pay till the Money come down, and no longer.

1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 315. Its lustre diminished … till it came down to a star of about the third magnitude.

1832.  Ht. Martineau, Hill & Valley, iii. 39. When prices fall and wages must come down.

1850.  Tait’s Mag., XVII. 719/2. The rent must come down.

  g.  Come down upon ——: to descend with authority, severity, hostility, or suddenness upon: to make an attack by surprise upon; to make a demand or call that is felt to press on or upon one.

1611.  Bible, Ps. vii. 16. His violent dealing shall come downe vpon his owne pate.

1861.  Du Chaillu, Explor. Equat. Africa, iv. 33. The treacherous enemy comes down upon a sleeping village.

1888.  R. A. King, Leal Lass, I. vi. 117. It’s too bad to come down always on you, only because you’re such a good fellow.

  h.  Come down (with) ——: to bring or put down; esp. to lay down money; to make a disbursement; also to come down with the needful, dust, pelf, etc. colloq. (cf. 7.)

1700.  Congreve, Way of World, III. v. What pension does your lady propose?… she must come down pretty deep now, she’s superannuated.

1760.  C. Johnston, Chrysal (1822), II. 248. I’ll make them come down, and handsomely too, or they shall repent it.

1836.  Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), IV. 381. The popular phrase of coming down with ‘the dust.’

1877.  Scribn. Mag., XV. 288/2. But even rich fathers aren’t willing Always to come down with the pelf.

  57.  Come forth. (not colloquial.)

  a.  To advance out of a place of retirement, come out; often as an encouraging or challenging call.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 14349. ‘Lazar,’ wit þis, ‘cum forth’ he badd.

a. 1340.  Hampole, Psalter, xviii. 5. As spouse cumand forth of his chawmbire.

1535.  Coverdale, Gen. xxiv. 15. Rebecca the doughter of Bethuel … came forth.

1784.  Cowper, Tiroc., 525. If … Your son come forth the prodigy of skill; The pedagogue … Claims more than half the praise. Ibid., Task, II. 445. Forth comes the pocket mirror.—First we stroke An eyebrow, next compose a straggling lock.

1808.  Mrs. Hemans, Voice of Spring, 21. Come forth, O ye children of gladness, come!

1830.  Tennyson, Ode to Mem., iv. Come forth.

1879.  M. J. Guest, Lect. Hist. Eng., xxviii. 286. Now that he [the Black Prince] saw his country’s need he came forth from his quiet retreat.

  † b.  To come into existence, be born. Obs.

1480.  Caxton, Chron. Eng., 3. In this maner they come forth and were borne horryble geants in albyon.

  † c.  To become published; to come out. Obs.

1595.  Barnfield, Cynthia, To Rdrs., Poems (Arb.), 44. The last Terme … there came forth a little toy of mine, intituled, The Affectionate Shepheard.

1607.  Shaks., Timon, I. i. 26. When comes your Booke forth.

1850.  Tait’s Mag., XVII. 491/2. ‘Childe Harold’ came forth during the same year.

  58.  Come forward.

  a.  To approach, come from the background to the front. b. To present oneself before the public, a tribunal, or the like in any capacity. c. To make advances. lit. and fig.

1530.  Palsgr., 490/1. Come forwarde, a Goddes name, whye dragge you so ever behynde.

1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 45, ¶ 1. I heard the same Voice say, but in a gentle Tone, Come forward.

1722.  De Foe, Plague (1884), 165. The Plague was come forward in the West and North Parts of the Town.

1823.  New Monthly Mag., IX. 276/1. Buyers are not induced to come forward.

1859.  Tennyson, Geraint & Enid, 285. The armourer … Came forward with the helmet yet in hand.

1879.  M. J. Guest, Lect. Hist. Eng., xvii. 167. Her [Matilda’s] cousin Stephen, in spite of his oaths, came forward as a candidate for the throne.

Mod.  (humorous) They are very backward in coming forward.

  59.  Come in. (See IN adv. in its various senses.)

  a.  To enter hither; esp. into a house, room, or enclosure; to enter the field or arena.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 8959. Sco com in at þat ilk yatte.

1382.  Wyclif, 1 Kings xiv. 6. And seith, Cum in, wijf of Jeroboam.

c. 1400.  Maundev., viii. (1839), 84. Whan we comen in wee diden of oure Schoon.

1600.  Shaks., A. Y. L., I. ii. 181. He is the generall challenger, I come but in as others do, to try with him the strength of my youth. Ibid. (1601), Twel. N., I. iii. 4. By my troth sir Toby, you must come in earlyer a nights.

1690.  Locke, Hum. Und., II. ii. § 1. The simple ideas thus united in the same subject, are as perfectly distinct as those that come in by different senses.

1728.  W. Smith, Univ. College, 271. That he had … twice or thrice knocked to come in.

1856.  Whyte-Melville, Kate Cov. (1882), 61/2. A sleepy ‘Come in’ was the reply to my summons.

1882.  Daily Tel., 27 May (Cricket). Mr. C. T. Studd … came in third wicket down.

  b.  To enter as invaders, settlers, occupants, etc.

c. 1420.  Chron. Vilod., 12. And þe Denmarkes come þo first ynne.

1598.  Bp. Hall, Sat., IV. ii. 136. And tels how first his famous ancestor Did come in long since with the Conquerour.

1873.  Tristram, Moab, ix. 174. Traces of aborigines, before the basalt-building inhabitants came in.

  † c.  (in Script.) To come in unto: to have carnal intercourse with. Obs.

1535.  Coverdale, Gen. xix. 31. Not a man more vpon earth that can come in vnto us.

1611.  Bible, Gen. xxxviii. 16.

  d.  To move or advance inwards; to arrive here at its destination; to enter the port, goal, etc.

1624.  Bacon, Consid. War with Spain. Our second fleet, which kept the narrow seas, was come in and joined to our main fleet.

1667.  Dryden, Sir Martin Mar-all, V. i. Here’s another of our vessels come in.

1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 129, ¶ 1. There came in this Morning a Mail from Holland.

1719.  De Foe, Crusoe (1840), I. xv. 256. The tide, as going out, or coming in.

1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 386. The mails went out and came in only on the alternate days.

1888.  Farjeon, Miser Farebrother, II. xix. 256. The ‘dark’ horse … came in fourth.

  † e.  Fencing. To make a pass or home-thrust, to get within the opponent’s guard. Obs.

1596.  Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., II. iv. 241. These nine … Began to giue me ground: but I followed me close, came in foot and hand. Ibid. (1597), 2 Hen. IV., III. ii. 302. Hee would about, and about, and come you in, and come you in.

a. 1625.  Fletcher, Bloody Bro., V. ii. Oh, bravely thrust! Take heed he come not in, sir. To him again; you give him too much respite.

  † f.  To submit, yield, give in one’s adhesion.

1520.  Hen. VIII., Lett., in St. Papers Hen. VIII., II. III. 57. O’Neil, and the other Irish captains [have] come in, and … recognised us as their sovereign lord.

1560.  in E. Lodge, Illust. Brit. Hist. (1791), I. 332. My Lord of Norfolke was ready to com in.

1596.  Spenser, State Irel., Wks. (Globe), 658/1. Touching the arche-rebell himselfe … if he … should offer to come in and submitt himselfe to her Majestie.

1687.  Burnet, Cont. Refl. Varillas, 124. Seeing the Queen’s Forces encrease, and that none came in to him.

1828.  Scott, Tales Grandf., Ser. II. xxv. Glencoe had not come in within the term prescribed.

  g.  To be successful in a candidature; to be elected; to come into power.

1705.  Hearne, Collect., 7 Dec. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), I. 118. He came in Rector.

1820.  Examiner, No. 619. 124/1. Mr. March Phillips … came in for Leicestershire in 1818, on the Whig interest.

1825.  New Monthly Mag., XIV. 15. A character for public speaking, which … must inevitably lead … whenever the Whigs should come in, to a seat in the British Senate.

1890.  Sat. Rev., 17 May, 586/1. Mr. Gladstone says that the statement that he came in on allotments in 1886 … is … untrue.

  h.  Of things: To be brought or given in.

a. 1067.  Char. Eadweard, in Cod. Dipl., IV. 195. Ani land sy owt of ðen biscopriche ʓedon, ich wille ðæt hit cume in onʓean.

1885.  Mrs. Lynn Linton, Chr. Kirkland, I. i. 15. At Easter, eggs came in by the hundred.

1890.  Sat. Rev., 12 July, 35/1. Subscriptions will continue to come in.

  i.  To come into hand as revenue or receipts. (Cf. INCOME.)

1588.  Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 2. Sweet hearts we shall be rich ere we depart, If fairings come thus plentifully in. Ibid. (1596), 1 Hen. IV., IV. i. 55. We may boldly spend, vpon the hope Of what is to come in.

a. 1670.  Hacket, Abp. Williams, I. (1692), 201. He was profuse in hospitality … To maintain all this, he had plenty coming in.

1833.  New Monthly Mag., XXXVII. 347. Coming in as the incomes of literary men do.

  j.  Natural productions (e.g., vegetables, oysters), etc., are said to come in, when they begin to be in season, and come into hand for use; so to come in usefully, opportunely, and the like. In the current phrases, to come in handy, come in useful, etc., there is a blending of this notion with others, ‘to come in opportunely and prove useful.’

1879.  M. J. Guest, Lect. Hist. Eng., xxxiii. 330. The snow and the storms came in so well to help the Welsh that Owen gained the character of a great magician, who could govern the weather as it suited him.

1884.  H. Coxwell, Contemp. Rev., Oct., 536. The system of balloon signalling … would have come in opportunely.

1888.  McCarthy, Ladies’ Gallery, II. v. 69. The knowledge came in handy now.

1889.  Mrs. E. Kennard, Landing a Prize, I. xii. 207. They have come in most useful.

1890.  Sat. Rev., 8 Feb., 157/2. Even cats … come in useful.

  k.  To enter into a narrative, account, or list; to intervene in the course of anything; to take its place, esp. with reference to the place or manner. Cf. sense 6 b.

1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., II. i. 365. Gre. If whil’st I liue she will be onely mine. Tra. That only came well in. Ibid. (1610), Temp., II. i. 77. Widow? A pox o’ that: how came that Widdow in? Widdow Dido!

1820.  Examiner, No. 648. 587/1. But justice comes in here, as it comes in at every corner of this rotten question.

1886.  Mrs. Hungerford, Lady Branksmere, II. xxix. 158. Where does the joke come in?

  l.  To come into use, vogue, or fashion.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 117. Þei han grete lordischipis amorteised to hem … þis amorteisynge comeþ in bi ypocrisie of preiynge be mouþ.

1652.  Needham, trans. Selden’s Mare Cl., 24. For thence came in private Dominion or Possession.

a. 1684.  Earl Roscom., Works (1753), 97.

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 172. After the Revolution, Jacobite plots came in.

1890.  Blackw. Mag., CXLVII. 510/2. Now that … croquet has come in.

  m.  Of a time or season: To enter or begin.

1526.  Tindale, Rom. xi. 25. Vntyll the fulnes of the gentyls be come in.

1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., V. iii. 52. Now comes in the sweete of the night.

1719.  De Foe, Crusoe (1840), I. xvi. 275. The settled season began to come in.

1890.  Blackw. Mag., CXLVII. 133/1. The year comes in royally.

  † n.  To come in with: to overtake; to meet; to fall in with. Obs.

1557.  R. Woodman, in Foxe, A. & M. (1596), 1801/2. Ere euer I could arise and get away, he was come in with me.

1724.  De Foe, Mem. Cavalier (1840), 191. In this pickle … I came in with him.

  o.  To come in for: to be included among those who receive a share of anything; to receive incidentally.

1665.  Bp. Patrick, Pilgrim, xxi. 218. We come in for a share of all their gettings.

1697.  Collier, A Thought, Ess. (1702), II. 84. If Thinking is essential to Matter, Stocks and Stones will come in for their share of Privilege.

1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 366. Bystanders whom His Majesty recognised often came in for a courteous word.

1885.  Mrs. Lynn Linton, Chr. Kirkland, III. ix. 298. She came in for her share of a fine property.

  p.  To come in upon, on: to enter one’s mind as a powerful impression, to be borne in upon.

1886.  McCarthy & Mrs. C. Praed, Right Hon’ble, II. xxiii. 180. It came more and more in upon her that she had known from the very first.

1889.  Stevenson, Master of B., vi. 186. Has it never come in upon your mind what you are doing?

  60.  Come near. To approach in place, order, qualities, etc.: see NEAR. So come nigh.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 14123 (Cott.). Ne mans wijt þar mai cum nere.

1662.  Stillingfl., Orig. Sacræ, III. ii. § 3. To which those expressions of Plato in his Timæus come very near.

1726.  Swift, Gulliver (1869), 190/1. The horse started a little when he came near.

1878.  Scribn. Mag., XV. 24/2. We came very near having a smash-up.

1889.  Stevenson, Master of B., xi. 298. The Indian … came near to pay the penalty of his life.

  61.  Come off.

  † a.  Formerly in imperative as a call of encouragement to action: come! come along! come on! Obs.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Friar’s T., 304. Yis quod this Somonour … Com of, and lat me ryden hastily. Yir me xii. pens.

1413.  Lydg., Pilgr. Sowle, IV. xx. (1483), 66. Come of, come of, and slee me here as blyue.

1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, XX. iv. Come of thenne, sayd they alle, and do hit [open a door].

1481.  Caxton, Reynard, B. vij. Why tarye ye thus longe, come of.

1526.  Skelton, Magnyf., 103. Come of, therefore, let se; Shall I begynne or ye.

1530.  Palsgr., 418. Come of, my scolers … I shall shewe you many thinges, or ça, mes escoliers.

1557.  Sarum Primer, Complin, E iij. Come of therfore our patronesse, Cast upon us those pitifull eyes of thyne.

  b.  To come away from a place in which one has been, e.g., a ship, a coast, etc.

a. 1480.  Siege of Rouen, in Collect. Lond. Cit. (Camden 1877), 41. But massyngers thedyr he sende, Bade them to come of and make an end.

1699.  Dampier, Voy., II. I. viii. 154. The next day Capt. Minchin came off.

1743.  J. Bulkeley & Cummins, Voy. S. Seas, 108. Made a Signal for the Boats to come off.

1825.  Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), II. 1. We came off from Burghclere yesterday afternoon, crossing Lord Carnarvon’s park.

  † c.  To desist, cease from. Obs.

1711.  H. Felton, Classicks (J.). To come off from these grave disquisitions, I would clear the point by one instance more.

a. 1714.  Burnet, Own Time, II. 31. To forgive every one that should come off from his opposition.

  † d.  ‘To deviate; to depart from a rule or direction’ (J.). Obs.

1626.  Bacon, Sylva, § 221. The Figure of a Bell partaketh of the Pyramis, but yet comming off, and dilating more suddenly.

  e.  To become detached; to detach oneself.

1833.  New Monthly Mag., XXXVII. 486. Eve handled it, and no doubt the apple came off in her fingers.

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., xxxiii. Mr. Weller … attacked the Reverend Mr. Stiggins with manual dexterity. ‘Come off!’ said Sam.

1850.  Tait’s Mag., XVII. 26/1. The tail … came off in his hand.

1890.  Univ. Rev., 15 March, 302. The wheel of the car came off in the middle of the road.

  f.  To leave the field of combat; to retire or extricate oneself from any engagement; usually with reference to the manner, as to come off with flying colors, second best, badly, safely, victorious, a loser, etc.

1596.  Shaks., Merch. V., I. i. 128. But my cheefe care Is to come fairely off from the great debts. Ibid. (1607), Cor., I. vi. 1. We are come off, Like Romans, neither foolish in our stands, Nor Cowardly in retyre.

1630.  R. Johnson, Kingd. & Commw., 26. His few well led men came ever off with victory.

1684.  Bunyan, Pilgr., II. 68. Some Pilgrims in some things come off losers.

1748.  Smollett, Rod. Rand., ix. Blessing ourselves that we had come off so well.

1829.  Scott, Tales Grandf., Ser. III. xxiii. He had come off victorious … in every action in which he had been engaged.

1883.  A. Dobson, Fielding, 70. In this controversy … Cibber did not come off worst.

  † g.  To get off, escape. Obs.

1634.  Milton, Comus, 647. I … Entered the very lime-twigs of his spells, And yet came off.

1667.  N. Fairfax, in Phil. Trans., II. 547. She had a dangerous Feaver, with a Diarrhœa, but came off.

c. 1716.  South (J.). If, upon such a fair and full trial, he can come off, he is then clear and innocent.

  † h.  To acquit oneself well, etc. Obs.

1647.  W. Browne, trans. Polexander, I. 14. Cunning but capricious Artisans, which come off in nothing so well as in making Monsters.

  † i.  Of things: To come to an issue or result; to turn out. Obs.

1591.  Shaks., Two Gent., II. i. 116. Sil. I thanke you (gentle Seruant) ’tis very Clerkly-done. Val. Now trust me (Madam) it came hardly-off. Ibid. (1607), Timon, I. i. 29. Pain. ’Tis a good Peece. Poet. So ’tis, this comes off well, and excellent.

1823.  J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 171. This imitation … which comes off nearest to the mineral is as follows.

  j.  Of a thing on hand: To come to the issue; to take place, be carried out.

1825.  C. M. Westmacott, Eng. Spy, I. 368. The event has not come off right.

1841.  J. T. Hewlett, Parish Clerk, III. 142. A race to come off on the sands.

1865.  Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., III. 286. First dinner (called luncheon), which comes off at two o’clock.

  † k.  To pay, disburse: cf. come down, come out.

1598.  Shaks., Merry W., IV. iii. 13. They shall haue my horses, but Ile make them pay … they must come off.

1601.  Holland, Pliny, II. 539. Neither would Protogenes part with any of his pictures vnto them, vnlesse they would come off roundly and rise to a better price than before time.

1636.  Davenant, Wits, in Dodsley (1780), VIII. 512. We ’ll make her costive Beldamship Come off.

1639.  Massinger, Unnat. Combat, IV. ii. Will you come off, sir?

  l.  Sporting euphem. To fall off. Cf. 2 c.

1881.  Mrs. O’Donoghue, Ladies on Horseback, I. i. 7. I confess I don’t like to see a girl come off.

  62.  Come on.

  a.  To advance hitherward: often implying hostile intent.

c. 1400.  Sowdone Bab., 2873. Than wole I, þat ye come on In haste to that same place.

c. 1430.  Lydg., Smyth & Dame, in Hazl., E. P. P., III. 209. The smyth … Called on hys dame Jone, And bad her com on fast.

1535.  Coverdale, Jer. xlviii. 14. The destruction off Moab commeth on a pace.

1603.  Shaks., Meas. for M., V. i. 400. The swift celeritie of his death, Which I did thinke, with slower foot came on.

1603.  Knolles, Hist. Turks (J.). The great ordnance once discharged, the armies came fast on.

1722.  De Foe, Col. Jack (1840), 238. Their troops … came on again to the charge with such fury, that, etc.

1889.  Standard, 9 Dec., 5/7. He will come on to Zanzibar on Thursday.

  b.  To advance in growth or development; to progress, thrive, grow, get on, improve.

1606.  Marston, Sophonisba, II. i. States come on With slow advice, quicke execution.

1626.  Bacon, Sylva (J.). It should seem by the experiments, both of the malt and of the roses, that they will come far faster on in water than in earth.

1689.  Hickeringill, Ceremony-monger, 38. Like a young Setting-dog … there ’s hopes of him, he ’s coming on.

1759.  Phil. Trans., LI. 182. He seemned to come on but slowly while the shocks were slight.

1853.  C. McIntosh, Bk. Garden, 473. Crops of cauliflower, etc., that may be coming on too fast.

1890.  Field, 15 Feb., 232/3. No. 7 [oarsman] has hardly come on as fast as expected. Ibid., 8 March, 355/1. He [a dog] has come on tremendously in head.

  c.  To come so as to prevail disagreeably; to supervene: said of night, winter, bad weather, fits or states of illness.

c. 1400.  Sowdone Bab., 892. The nyghte come on ful sone.

1485.  Caxton, Chas. Gt., 83. The nyght came on.

1603.  Knolles, Hist. Turks (J.). Until winter were come on.

1694.  Narborough, Acc. Sev. Late Voy., I. (1711), 126. Night coming on, we here pitched our tent.

1712.  W. Rogers, Voy., 4. It came on to blow.

1830.  ‘Juan De Vega’ [C. Cochrane], Jrnl. Tour, xx. (1847), 138. It came on to rain.

1840.  R. Dana, Bef. Mast, xiv. We encountered another south-easter … it came on in the night.

1879.  Carpenter, Ment. Phys., I. ii. 75. Whenever the paroxysm came-on.

1886.  McCarthy & Mrs. C. Praed, Right Hon’ble, I. vi. 99. The night had come on wet.

1894.  1st Rep. Roy. Comm. Opium, App. III, 81/1. The usual attack of fever came on yesterday, passing through the regular stages of shivering, hot and dry skin, with thirst and headache, succeeded by profuse perspiration.

  d.  To come upon the board for discussion or settlement; to come in course to be dealt with.

1737.  Pope, Hor. Epist., II. ii. 96. Before the Lords at twelve my Cause comes on.

1789.  T. Jefferson, Writ. (1859), III. 64. The question of the St. Domingo deputation came on.

1833.  New Monthly Mag., XXXVIII. 132. The next day comes on Sir John Key’s motion.

1890.  Sat. Rev., 22 March, 340/2. The … Bill had come on for second reading.

  e.  To come upon the stage or scene of action.

1833.  New Monthly Mag., XXXVIII. 225. Then came on a small man.

1888.  McCarthy & Praed, Ladies’ Gallery, III. viii. 168. Ransom began to grow impatient, and to wonder if Berenice was never to come on.

1890.  Field, 10 May, 672/2. At this stage Mr. Woods came on to bowl.

  f.  Come on! the imperative is used as a call to urge someone to advance towards or to accompany (the speaker), or to proceed with anything; esp. used as a challenge or call of defiance.

c. 1450.  Guy Warw. (C.), 1860. Gye beganne on hym to crye Harrawde, come on smertlye.

1503.  Hawes, Examp. Virt., iii. 29 Come on fayre youth and go with me.

1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., III. ii. 1. Come-on, come-on, come-on: giue mee your Hand, Sir; giue mee your Hand, Sir. Ibid. (1603), Meas. for M., II. i. 144. Now Sir, come on: What was done to Elbowes wife, once more?

1738.  Pope, Epil. Sat., II. 14. Come on then, Satire!… Spread thy broad wing, and souse on all the kind.

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., ii. ‘Come on,’ said the cab-driver, sparring away like clock-work. ‘Come on—all four on you.’

1888.  E. Gosse, Raleigh, ix. 201. Struck down as he was shouting ‘Come on, my men!’

  63.  Come out.

  a.  lit. i.e., out of a place, a house, etc., into the open; to emerge, issue forth.

c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., John xi. 43. Ðu latzar cymm ut.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 63. And fereð in to helle … ut ne cumeð he nefre ma.

c. 1380.  Sir Ferumb., 2643. Frenschemen … þat buþ now comen out of þe tour.

1535.  Coverdale, Numb. xx. 11. And Moses … smote y^e rocke … Then came y^e water out abundantly.

1611.  Bible, Luke xv. 28. Therefore came his father out.

1722.  De Foe, Col. Jack (1840), 137. Go in there a slave, and come out a gentleman.

1820.  W. Irving, Sketch Bk., Christmas Eve (Rtldg.), 86/2. The squire came out to receive us.

  b.  esp. ‘out into the field,’ i.e., to fight.

[a. 1498.  Warkw., Chron. (Camden Soc.), 14. Kynge Edwarde sent a messyngere to them, that yf thai wulde come oute, that he wulde feght withe them.]

1611.  Bible, Judg. ix. 29. And he said to Abimelech, Increase thine armie and come out.

1805.  Blackwood, in Nicolas, Disp. Nelson (1846), VII. 130, note. At this moment the Enemy are coming out.

1829.  Scott, Tales Grandf., Ser. III. lxxxiv. Their simple and ignorant followers, who came out [in 1745] in ignorance of the laws of the civilized part of the nation.

  c.  with the notion of leaving one’s employment; as to come out on strike.

1885.  Manch. Exam., 20 May, 4/7. Seventeen … came out on strike yesterday morning.

1889.  Daily Tel., 3 Dec., 5/5. He had the promises of 300 to come out ‘in sympathy’ when the time came for quitting work.

  d.  With complement: To emerge (in a specified manner) from a contest, competition, examination.

1848–60.  Bartlett, Dict. Amer., s.v., ‘How did you come out?’ means, how did you fare in your undertaking?

1868.  Holme Lee, B. Godfrey, xxxiv. 186. He will come out a double-first.

1881.  Mrs. C. Praed, Policy & P., I. xiii. 289. I have set my heart on coming out winner.

1889.  Stevenson, Master of B., iv. 128. He had been put to his defence, he had come lamely out.

  e.  To appear, as the sun, moon, or stars; to emerge from behind the clouds, etc.

1832.  Tennyson, May Queen, II. iv. I wish the snow would melt and the sun come out on high.

1883.  Mrs. C. Praed, Moloch, I. I. vii. 132. The stars came out in the blue overhead.

1889.  Temple Bar Mag., Nov., 308. The moon will come out when the wind goes.

  f.  To protrude, project, extend. (See 5.)

1694.  Narborough, Voy. S. & N., II. 118. Between the Scales on both sides the Knobs come out commonly three or four together.

1715.  Desaguliers, Fires Impr., 23. The other [end] at top … coming out into the Room.