come across
Britishverb
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(preposition) to meet or find by accident
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(adverb) (of a person or his or her words) to communicate the intended meaning or impression
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(often foll by with) to provide what is expected
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Also, come upon ; run across . Meet or find by chance, as in I came across your old letters today , or He came upon her looking in the store window . or If I run across it, I'll call you . The first term dates from the 1800s. The first variant was used by Oliver Goldsmith in She Stoops to Conquer (1773): “You are to go sideways till you come upon Crack-Skull Common.” The second variant was used by Mark Twain in Tramp Abroad (1880): “If I don't run across you in Italy, you hunt me up in London.”
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Also, come across with . Pay or give what is expected or demanded, as in He finally came across with some food , or The landlord wants the rent, so come across . [ Colloquial ; late 1800s]
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Make a particular impression, as in He comes across as a very sincere person or Her meaning doesn't really come across; she'll have to revise the speech . [ Colloquial ; first half of 1900s] Also see get across ; put across .
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Citizens National Bank of Wolf Point passed out fans with a slogan printed on one side: Come across or the Kaiser will.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
Come across to my wife and have a cup of tea.
From The White Peacock by Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert)
Come across the street, here, and, entering by a little shop and yard, examine these intricate passages and doors, contrived for escape, flapping and counter- flapping, like the lids of the conjurer's boxes.
From Reprinted Pieces by Dickens, Charles
"Come across, you three fellows," laughed young Prescott, when the enemy had vanished in flight.
From The High School Boys' Training Hike by Hancock, H. Irving (Harrie Irving)
Come across with one or the other and come across quick.
From The Radio Boys' First Wireless Or Winning the Ferberton Prize by Chapman, Allen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
