come to meaning: definition, quotations

come to

verb

intransitive /kʌm ˈtu/ · transitive /ˈkʌm tu/

9 senses

Idiomatic To recover consciousness after fainting etc.

Nautical, Transport Idiomatic To stop a sailing vessel, especially by turning into the wind. See also come about.

The flood had made, the wind was nearly calm, and being bound down the river, the only thing for it was to come to and wait for the turn of the tide.1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I:

To total; to amount to.

To reach; to arrive at.

3 more examples

Many sprouting crops never come to ear.
Dotcom mania was slow in coming to higher education, but now it has the venerable industry firmly in its grip. Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations.2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
Dr. Junaid Nabi, a physician-scientist who conducts research in health care technology at the RAND School in Washington, D.C. and is a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute, says he's come to realize that kindness isn't actually a trickle in the ocean. An act of kindness is more like dropping a stone that creates expanding ripples, he says.2025 November 13, Kamala Thiagarajan, “If you're going to be kind to another human, today is the day to do it!”, in NPR:

To seek help from.

To devote attention to in due course; to come around to.

To befall; to happen to; to come upon.

I pray no harm will come to you.
My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter III, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

Present, Regional To regard or specifically pertain to.

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see come, to.

Derived terms: 40 terms
come back to one's senses, come to a boil, come to a close, come to a head, come to an end, come to a sticky end, come to blows, come to grief, come to grips, come to grips with, come to hand, come to Jesus, come to life, come to light, come to mention it, come to mind, come to naught, come to nothing, come to nought, come to oneself, come to one's hand, come to one's senses, come to order, come to papa, come to pass, come to power, come to someone's aid, come to someone's assistance, come to someone's rescue, come to terms, come to terms with, come to that, come to the fore, come to the party, come to think of it, come to time, Daniel come to judgement, when it comes to, when push comes to shove, worst comes to worst