come to
1. To regain consciousness. After Lily fainted, we used smelling salts to get her to come to. The patient wasn't sure where he was when he came to in the emergency room. The guy was knocked out in a fight. What can we do to make him come to?
2. To be called to one's mind. Give me a minute, that song will come to me. Why do the best ideas always come to me in the shower when I can't write them down? A solution finally came to me as I was falling asleep last night.
3. To reach a conclusion of some kind, such as a decision. How did you come to this decision? Tell me your thought process. We've been turning over the evidence for nearly three days, and we're still no closer to coming to any conclusions. After spending the last few nights thinking about what you said, I've come to the conclusion that I need to make some drastic changes in my life.
4. To begin to experience some feeling in respect of someone or something. I came to regret my choice of college very shortly after arriving here. After working in a meat-packing plant for a year, I came to hate the smell of raw meat. At first our marriage was purely one of convenience, but we did come to love one another eventually.
5. To arrive at or visit a particular place. I came to this city because it's home to such beautiful architecture. I'll come to your house tonight and drop off your cake pan. You're always welcome to come to Sunday dinner, you know that.
6. To reach a particular sum, as of a bill. Your total comes to $47.80. My medical bills have come to such a high number that I don't know how I will pay them. The bill comes to $217. Now, we just have to split it seven ways.
7. To have a particular impact, result, or consequence. I hope my lies don't come to any consequence. That meeting nearly came to blows after the fiery testimony. I didn't expect their little disagreement to come to such nasty name-calling!
8. To be revealed or exposed. This meaning is often conveyed through the phrase "come to light." Discrepancies in the yearly budget report only came to light after the auditors began analyzing it. These incriminating documents came to light because of a whistleblower's tireless efforts. When will the truth finally come to light?
9. To resume acting or feeling as one normally does. In this usage, a reflexive pronoun is used after "to." I was starting to get disoriented after being awake for 36 hours straight, but I came to myself after a good night's rest. In the cartoons, a second bump on the head is usually all it takes for one to come to oneself. I was excited to book a vacation until I looked at my nearly depleted bank account and promptly came to myself.
10. To anchor a ship. We'll come to in this port for now and regroup. I'm definitely concerned if the ship still hasn't come to, and no one has had word from the Captain. Of course the ship is moving out in the morning. It never comes to for very long—that's just the life of a sailor.
11. To position a ship with its bow in the wind. The ship needs to come to so that we can visit the port. We need to come to because it seems we've gone off-course. No, you need to come to—turn the ship's bow into the wind.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
come to
1. Recover consciousness, as in She fainted but quickly came to. [Second half of 1500s]
2. Arrive at, learn, as in I came to see that Tom had been right all along. [c. 1700]
5. Stop a sailboat or other vessel by bringing the bow into the wind or dropping anchor, as in "The gale having gone over, we came to" (Richard Dana, Two Years Before the Mast, 1840). [Early 1700s] Also see the subsequent entries beginning with come to.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
come to
v.1. To arrive at a place: We came to this city looking for a new life.
2. To come to the mind of someone; occur to someone: An interesting idea just came to me.
3. To have some sum as a total: The bill for dinner came to $40.
4. To arrive at some final state; amount to something: What will these strange events come to? So far, my miserable life has come to nothing.
5. To recover consciousness: The fainting victim came to.
6. Nautical To bring the bow into the wind: We should stop right here, so come to and we'll let the sails luff.
7. Nautical To anchor: We came to in the cove and spent the night there.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs. Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.