come by

verb

1. (intr, preposition) to find or obtain (a thing), esp accidentally

   do you ever come by any old books?

Idioms and Phrases

Acquire, obtain, as in A good assistant is hard to come by . This usage, dating from about 1600, superseded the earlier sense of acquiring something with considerable effort. A variant is come by honestly , meaning “to obtain in some honorable or logical way.” For example, I'm sure she didn't come by that large bonus honestly or He does have an unusual gait but he came by it honestly; his father's is the same .

Stop in, visit, as in Please come by whenever you're in the neighborhood . [Late 1800s]

Related Words

• come over 
• drop by 
• drop in