▸ come down with PHRASAL VERB If you come down with an illness, you get it. □ [V P P n] Thomas came down with chickenpox at the weekend.
▸ come for PHRASAL VERB If people such as soldiers or police come for you, they come to find you, usually in order to harm you or take you away, for example to prison. □ [V P n] Lotte was getting ready to fight if they came for her.
▸ come forward PHRASAL VERB If someone comes forward , they offer to do something or to give some information in response to a request for help. □ [V P ] A vital witness came forward to say that she saw Tanner wearing the boots.
▸ come in
1 PHRASAL VERB If information, a report, or a telephone call comes in , it is received. □ [V P ] Reports are now coming in of trouble at yet another jail.
2 PHRASAL VERB [usu cont] If you have some money coming in , you receive it regularly as your income. □ [V P ] She had no money coming in and no funds.
3 PHRASAL VERB If someone comes in on a discussion, arrangement, or task, they join it. □ [V P + on ] Can I come in here too, on both points? □ [V P ] He had a designer come in and redesign the uniforms.
4 PHRASAL VERB When a new idea, fashion, or product comes in , it becomes popular or available. □ [V P ] It was just when geography was really beginning to change and lots of new ideas were coming in.
5 PHRASAL VERB If you ask where something or someone comes in , you are asking what their role is in a particular matter. □ [V P ] Rose asked again, 'But where do we come in, Henry?'
6 PHRASAL VERB When the tide comes in , the water in the sea gradually moves so that it covers more of the land.
▸ come in for PHRASAL VERB If someone or something comes in for criticism or blame, they receive it. □ [V P P n] The plans have already come in for fierce criticism in many quarters of the country.
▸ come into
1 PHRASAL VERB [no passive] If someone comes into some money, some property, or a title, they inherit it. □ [V P n] My father has just come into a fortune in diamonds.
2 PHRASAL VERB [no passive] If someone or something comes into a situation, they have a role in it. □ [V P n] We don't really know where Hortense comes into all this.
▸ come off
1 PHRASAL VERB If something comes off , it is successful or effective. □ [V P ] It was a good try but it didn't quite come off.
2 PHRASAL VERB If someone comes off worst in a contest or conflict, they are in the worst position after it. If they come off best, they are in the best position. □ [V P adv] Some Democrats still have bitter memories of how, against all odds, they came off worst during the inquiry.
3 PHRASAL VERB [no passive] If you come off a drug or medicine, you stop taking it. □ [V P n] …people trying to come off tranquillizers.
4 CONVENTION You say 'come off it' to someone to show them that you think what they are saying is untrue or wrong. [INFORMAL , SPOKEN ]
▸ come on
1 CONVENTION You say 'Come on' to someone to encourage them to do something they do not much want to do. [SPOKEN ] □ Come on Doreen, let's dance.
2 CONVENTION You say 'Come on' to someone to encourage them to hurry up. [SPOKEN ]
3 PHRASAL VERB [usu cont] If you have an illness or a headache coming on , you can feel it starting. □ [V P ] Tiredness and fever are much more likely to be a sign of flu coming on.
4 PHRASAL VERB [usu cont] If something or someone is coming on well, they are developing well or making good progress. □ [V P adv] Lee is coming on very well now and it's a matter of deciding how to fit him into the team.
5 PHRASAL VERB When something such as a machine or system comes on , it starts working or functioning. □ [V P ] The central heating was coming on and the ancient wooden boards creaked.
6 PHRASAL VERB [usu cont] If a new season or type of weather is coming on , it is starting to arrive. □ [V P ] Winter was coming on again. □ [V P to-inf] I had two miles to go and it was just coming on to rain.
▸ come on to
1 PHRASAL VERB When you come on to a particular topic, you start discussing it. □ [V P P n] We're now looking at a smaller system but I'll come on to that later.
2 PHRASAL VERB If someone comes on to you, they show that they are interested in starting a sexual relationship with you. [INFORMAL ] □ [V P P n] I don't think that a woman, by using make-up, is trying to come on to a man.
▸ come out
1 PHRASAL VERB When a new product such as a book or CD comes out , it becomes available to the public. □ [V P ] The book comes out this week.
2 PHRASAL VERB If a fact comes out , it becomes known to people. □ [V P ] The truth is beginning to come out about what happened. □ [V P that] It came out that he was already married.
3 PHRASAL VERB When a gay person comes out , they let people know that they are gay. □ [V P ] …the few gay men there who dare to come out. □ [V P + as ] I came out as a lesbian when I was still in my teens.
4 PHRASAL VERB To come out in a particular way means to be in the position or state described at the end of a process or event. □ [V P adv/prep] In this grim little episode, few people come out well. □ [V P adj] So what makes a good marriage? Faithfulness comes out top of the list. □ [V P + of ] Julian ought to have resigned, then he'd have come out of it with some credit.