COME BY

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does come by mean? 

• COME BY (verb)
  The verb COME BY has 2 senses:

1. visit informally and spontaneously

2. obtain, especially accidentally

  Familiarity information: COME BY used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COME BY (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Visit informally and spontaneously

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

come by; drop by; drop in

Context example:

We frequently drop by the neighbors' house for a cup of coffee

Hypernyms (to "come by" is one way to...):

call; call in; visit (pay a brief visit)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Obtain, especially accidentally

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

come by; come into

Hypernyms (to "come by" is one way to...):

acquire; get (come into the possession of something concrete or abstract)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "come by"):

hit; stumble (encounter by chance)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

Scarcely were they up, than who should come by but the very rogues they were looking for.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Watch January 15 when Uranus in Taurus will come by to welcome Venus in Pisces—you may have a dazzling romance, and if so, events will take you completely by surprise.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

But Dr. Joseph Su, an NIH expert in diet and cancer, says that direct evidence here is similarly hard to come by.

(Can Chocolate Really Be Good for You?, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

He who pummelled them might come by such a pat as he would be likely to remember.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She stumbled through it, pausing now and again to wipe her eyes, and when she had finished, said: An' does it mean that you come by the money honestly?

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

But the fust was put underneath the door, and this come by the post, day afore yesterday.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

How else could he come by his broken bones, and how could he have been stuck through by these canes with their points so high above our heads?

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"You are on the right track then. Only you've come by the foot-path."

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I know that if he tells me to come in secret, I must come by wile; by any device to hoodwink—even Jonathan.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

But how did he come by his death?

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)