come by

British  

verb

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

   do you ever come by any old books?

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come by Idioms  

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 This usage, dating from about 1600, superseded the earlier sense of acquiring something with considerable effort.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

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

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Example Sentences

One said people hide in their homes when reporters come by.

From BBC

Outside of Summers’ voluntary resignations, consequences for American politicians who appear in the Epstein files have been hard to come by.

From Salon

“I was wondering,” Duane began, “perhaps you could encourage larger fish to come by if you cut your fishing hole a little bit wider?”

From Literature

They would come by in a long line, one behind the other, leaping and squealing.

From Literature

In Wisconsin, dairy farms are smaller, herds are smaller, and cows are usually sent out to pasture to graze in good weather, which is not easy to come by in Wisconsin.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• come over
• drop by
• drop in