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 This usage, dating from about 1600, superseded the earlier sense of acquiring something with considerable effort.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]

Example Sentences

Women say that unlike menstruation and pregnancy, guidance from doctors about menopause can be hard to come by, so they often struggle to find the source of their ailments.

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“It’s a really interesting time in nightlife now, where people are afraid to spend money and jobs are hard to come by,” said Mo Faulk of Honey’s at Star Love.

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Persaud says many of his students hope to rent a car overseas, where automatics are sometimes harder to come by, or have significant others who own stick shifts but lack “the patience to teach them.”

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But some of the water it was consuming came by truck from Hampshire, which was.

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The presidency said late Wednesday that Macron would name a new prime minister within the next 48 hours, indicating the appointment would come by Friday evening at the latest.

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Related Words

• come over 
• drop by 
• drop in