Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A fall of rain or snow.
  • noun The commencement or initial stages of a business, especially of one that requires great exertion, as in making an attack.
  • noun An attack, as of disease.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive, rare To arrive; come to; come on.
  • noun Advent, arrival, approach; onset
  • noun The commencement or initial stages of a business, especially of one which requires great exertion.
  • noun The setting about of an action; development; progress.
  • noun An attack; an attack or onset of a disease, fit, or episode.
  • noun dialectal A mysterious disease or ailment.
  • noun dialectal A heavy fall of rain or snow; cloudburst.
  • noun The lower edge of a fire-clay lining piece.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English oncomen, from Old English oncuman, ancuman ("to arrive, come upon, happen"), equivalent to on- +‎ come. Cognate with Dutch aankomen ("to arrive"), German ankommen ("to arrive"), Swedish ankomma ("to arrive").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English oncome ("an attack"), equivalent to on- +‎ come. Compare Old English ancuman ("to arrive, come upon, happen"). More at ancome, income.

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Examples

  • 'Ay, I hae,' came the unexpected response, 'whiles i' the "oncome" or

    Border Ghost Stories Howard Pease

  • As he watched and waited there stole down from the fells above him 'oncome' of mist or 'haar' from the eastward, which soon drew a plaid of hodden grey above the shoulder of Shillmoor.

    Border Ghost Stories Howard Pease

  • Come oncome on Todd seemed to will the words as much as say them.

    The Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading Charity Tahmaseb 2009

  • Come oncome on Todd seemed to will the words as much as say them.

    The Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading Charity Tahmaseb 2009

  • Between twelve and one that Sunday night Katharine lay in bed, not asleep, but in that twilight region where a detached and humorous view of our own lot is possible; or if we must be serious, our seriousness is tempered by the swift oncome of slumber and oblivion.

    Night and Day, by Virginia Woolf 2004

  • BETWEEN twelve and one that Sunday night Katharine lay in bed, not asleep, but in that twilight region where a detached and humorous view of our own lot is possible; or if we must be serious, our seriousness is tempered by the swift oncome of slumber and oblivion.

    Night and Day 1920

  • The oncome of summer, the first thrill of autumn, how did he bear them?

    Prisoners Fast Bound In Misery And Iron Mary Cholmondeley 1892

  • With what splendid rigidity the escorts 'burnished lines walled in its oncome.

    Kincaid's Battery George Washington Cable 1884

  • Miranda, and the battery lads to their girls, from whose hands they began to wring wild good-byes as a peal of fifes and drums heralded the oncome of the departing regiment.

    Kincaid's Battery George Washington Cable 1884

  • Some fowk thoucht it a guid sign that he hadna cairried the body wi 'him; but maybe he was ower suddent scared by the fut o' the priest's horse upo 'the drawbrig, an' dauredna bide his oncome.

    Malcolm George MacDonald 1864

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