Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To advance toward the speaker or toward a specified place; approach.
  • intransitive verb To advance in a specified manner.
  • intransitive verb To make progress; advance.
  • intransitive verb To fare.
  • intransitive verb To reach a particular point in a series or as a result of orderly progression.
  • intransitive verb To arrive, as in due course.
  • intransitive verb To move into view; appear.
  • intransitive verb To occur in time; take place.
  • intransitive verb To arrive at a particular result or end.
  • intransitive verb To arrive at or reach a particular state or condition.
  • intransitive verb To move or be brought to a particular position.
  • intransitive verb To extend; reach.
  • intransitive verb To have priority; rank.
  • intransitive verb To happen as a result.
  • intransitive verb To fall to one.
  • intransitive verb To occur in the mind.
  • intransitive verb To issue forth.
  • intransitive verb To be derived; originate.
  • intransitive verb To be descended.
  • intransitive verb To be within a given range or spectrum of reference or application.
  • intransitive verb To be a native or resident.
  • intransitive verb To add up to a certain amount.
  • intransitive verb To become.
  • intransitive verb To turn out to be.
  • intransitive verb To be available or obtainable.
  • intransitive verb Vulgar Slang To experience orgasm.
  • noun Semen ejaculated during orgasm.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English comen, from Old English cuman; see gwā- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English comen, cumen, from Old English coman, cuman ("to come, go, happen"), from Proto-Germanic *kwemanan (“to come”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem-, *gʷém-, *gʷem-ye- (“to come, go, be born”).

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word come.

Examples

  • Hear what our Saviour says on this subject; "it must needs be that offences come, but _woe unto that man through whom they come_" -- Witness some fulfilment of this declaration in the tremendous destruction of Jerusalem, occasioned by that most nefarious of all crimes the crucifixion of the Son of God.

    The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus American Anti-Slavery Society

  • Hear what our Saviour says on this subject; "it must needs be that offences come, but _woe unto that man through whom they come_" -- Witness some fulfillment of this declaration in the tremendous destruction of Jerusalem, occasioned by that most nefarious of all crimes the crucifixion of the Son of God.

    The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus American Anti-Slavery Society

  • Hear what our Saviour says on this subject; "it must needs be that offences come, but _woe unto that man through whom they come_" -- Witness some fulfilment of this declaration in the tremendous destruction of Jerusalem, occasioned by that most nefarious of all crimes the crucifixion of the Son of God.

    The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Part 1 of 4 American Anti-Slavery Society

  • Hear what our Saviour says on this subject; "it must needs be that offences come, but _woe unto that man through whom they come_" -- Witness some fulfillment of this declaration in the tremendous destruction of Jerusalem, occasioned by that most nefarious of all crimes the crucifixion of the Son of God.

    The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Part 1 of 4 American Anti-Slavery Society

  • She threw up her hands when she saw me; didn't ask me in, but hollered for Grandfather to come, and _come quick_, which he did.

    Fifteen Years with the Outcast

  • ‘Oh, you’ve come, ’ he said, addressing a tall old footman of his mother’s, standing at the door; ‘come here.

    Chapter XVII. Part I 1917

  • If the committee has failed to come to a conclusion, strike out of the report all after “and has” and insert “come to no conclusion thereon.

    9. Committees and Boards. 55. Committee of the Whole Henry Martyn 1915

  • The apostle Paul cautioned the Thessalonian brethren not to entertain the idea that the advent of Christ was then near at hand, for it could not come until after the great period of apostasy that he predicted; but here is a messenger now claiming that the "_hour of his judgment is come_" -- an event just at hand.

    The Revelation Explained 1913

  • And thenceforth the words of the song that the bullfrog sang were, '_Come, come, in danger come_.'

    Lobo, Rag and Vixen Being The Personal Histories Of Lobo, Redruff, Raggylug & Vixen Ernest Thompson Seton 1903

  • "Come, come, _come_!" broke in the oldest, sweeping the largest director aside with one finger as he pulled a chair to the table.

    Bunker Bean Harry Leon Wilson 1903

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • This is now a preposition in constructions such as 'come Thursday', 'come Easter'; in origin a subjunctive use. To be distinguished from the fossilized subjunctive in 'come hell or high water', which is still a clause; 'come Thursday' no longer is.

    August 6, 2008