come to

British  

verb

1. to regain consciousness or return to one's normal state

2. (adverb) nautical to slow a vessel or bring her to a stop

3. (preposition) to amount to (a sum of money)

   your bill comes to four pounds

4. (preposition) to arrive at (a certain state)

   what is the world coming to?

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come to Idioms  

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]

3. See amount to , def. 2.

4. See when it comes to .

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 .

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Example Sentences

Flora, we have seen, had been willing, eager, for them to come--to arrive; not because Charlie, but because his captain, was one of the two.

From Kincaid's Battery by Kimball, Alonzo

"If this other of whom you speak--had come--to nurse and stay with you?" the pastor continued.

From On the Cross A Romance of the Passion Play at Oberammergau by Hillern, Wilhelmine von

Dina, is it a bargain between us that when I come--when circumstances allow me to come--to you and say: "Here is my hand," you will take it and be my wife?

From Pillars of Society by Sharp, R. Farquharson (Robert Farquharson)

I tried to collect my thoughts, but think as I would nothing could alter the resolution with which I had come--to plead with the Emperor and not with his representative.

From For the Right by Franzos, Karl Emil

"My old Waldgeist," he whispered, "did you have to come--to see this?"

From The Sign of Flame by Werner, E. T. C. (Edward Theodore Chalmers)

Related Words

• amount
• consumption
• cost
• disbursement
• expense
• figure
• investment
• outlay
• output
• price
• rate
• spending
• value