/ kʌm; NAmE / verb , exclamation , noun
■ verb
( came / keɪm; NAmE / come )
TO A PLACE
1.
to move to or towards a person or place :
[ v , usually + adv. / prep. ]
He came into the room and shut the door.
She comes to work by bus.
My son is coming home soon.
Come here!
Come and see us soon!
Here comes Jo (= Jo is coming) !
There's a storm coming.
[ v to inf ]
They're coming to stay for a week.
HELP NOTE : In spoken English come can be used with and plus another verb, instead of with to and the infinitive, to show purpose or to tell sb what to do:
When did she last come and see you?
Come and have your dinner.
The and is sometimes left out, especially in NAmE :
Come have your dinner.
2.
[ v ] come (to ... ) to arrive at or reach a place :
They continued until they came to a river.
What time did you come (= to my house) ?
Spring came late this year.
Your breakfast is coming soon.
Have any letters come for me?
Help came at last.
The CD comes complete with all the words of the songs.
The time has come (= now is the moment) to act.
3.
come for / about sth | come to do sth to arrive somewhere in order to do sth or get sth :
[ v ]
I've come for my book.
I've come about my book.
I've come to get my book.
[ v -ing ]
He came looking for me.
4.
come (to sth) (with sb) to move or travel, especially with sb else, to a particular place or in order to be present at an event :
[ v ]
I've only come for an hour.
Are you coming to the club with us tonight?
Thanks for coming (= to my house, party, etc.) .
[ v -ing ]
Why don't you come skating tonight?
RUNNING / HURRYING etc.
5.
[ v -ing , usually + adv. / prep. ] to move in a particular way or while doing sth else :
The children came running into the room.
TRAVEL
6.
[ vn ] to travel a particular distance :
We've come 50 miles this morning.
( figurative )
The company has come a long way (= made lot of progress) in the last 5 years.
HAPPEN
7.
[ v ] to happen :
The agreement came after several hours of negotiations.
The rains came too late to do any good.
Her death came as a terrible shock to us.
His resignation came as no surprise.
8.
[ v to inf ] used in questions to talk about how or why sth happened :
How did he come to break his leg?
How do you come to be so late?
—see also how come?
TO A POSITION / STATE
9.
[ v + adv. / prep. ] (not used in the progressive tenses) to have a particular position :
That comes a long way down my list of priorities.
His family comes first (= is the most important thing in his life) .
She came second (= received the second highest score) in the exam.
10.
[ v ] come to / into sth used in many expressions to show that sth has reached a particular state :
At last winter came to an end .
He came to power in 1959.
When will they come to a decision ?
The trees are coming into leaf.
11.
come (in sth) (not used in the progressive tenses) ( of goods, products, etc. ) to be available or to exist in a particular way :
[ v ]
This dress comes in black and red.
[ v - adj ] ( informal )
New cars don't come cheap (= they are expensive) .
12.
to become :
[ v - adj ]
The buttons had come undone.
The handle came loose.
Everything will come right in the end.
[ v to inf ]
This design came to be known as the Oriental style.
13.
[ v to inf ] to reach a point where you realize, understand or believe sth :
In time she came to love him.
She had come to see the problem in a new light.
I've come to expect this kind of behaviour from him.
TIME
14.
come [ vn ] ( old-fashioned , informal ) when the time mentioned comes :
They would have been married forty years come this June.
SEX
15.
[ v ] ( slang ) to have an orgasm
•
IDIOMS
Most idioms containing come are at the entries for the nouns or adjectives in the idioms, for example come a cropper is at cropper .
- be as clever, stupid, etc. as they come
- come again?
- come and go
- come easily, naturally, etc. to sb
- come over (all) faint, dizzy, giddy, etc.
- come to nothing | not come to anything
- come to that | if it comes to that
- come what may
- how come ( ... )?
- not come to much
- to come
- when it comes to sth / to doing sth
- where sb is coming from
—more at ear noun
•
PHRASAL VERBS
- come about (that ... )
- come across
- come across sb/sth
- come across (with sth)
- come after sb
- come along
- come apart
- come around / round
- come around / round (to ... )
- come around / round (to sth)
- come at sb
- come at sth
- come away (from sth)
- come away with sth
- come back
—related noun comeback (2)
- come back (at sb) (with sth)
- come back (to sb)
- come back to sth
- come before sb/sth
- come between sb and sb
- come by
- come by sth
- come down
- come down (from ... )
- come down (from ... ) (to ... )
- come down on sb
- come down (to sb)
- come down to sth
- come down with sth
- come forward
- come from ...
- come from sth
- come in
- come in for sth
- come in (on sth)
- come into sth
- come of / from sth
- come off
- come off (sth)
- come off it
- come off sth
- come on
- come on / upon sb/sth
- come on to sb
- come on to sth
- come out
- come out (of sth)
- come out at sth
- come out in sth
- come out of yourself
- come out of sth
- come out with sth
- come over
- come over (to ... )
- come over (to ... ) (from ... )
- come over (to sth)
- come over sb
- come round | come round (to sth)
- come through
- come through (sth)
- come through (with sth)
- come to
- come to yourself
- come to sb
- come to sth
- come together
- come under sth
- come up
- come up (to ... )
- come up (to ... ) (from ... )
- come up (to sb)
- come up against sb/sth
- come up for sth
- come up to sth
- come up with sth
- come upon sb/sth
■ exclamation
( old-fashioned ) used when encouraging sb to be sensible or reasonable, or when showing slight disapproval :
Oh come now, things aren't as bad as all that.
Come, come, Miss Jones, you know perfectly well what I mean.
■ noun
[ U ] ( slang ) semen
••
WORD ORIGIN
Old English cuman , of Germanic origin; related to Dutch komen and German kommen .