Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US black) to belittle, to insult, to talk to severely, to criticize harshly.

1824		History of Gaming Houses & Gamesters 38: [A] scurrilous tongue, well adapted to blow up a pigeon who might whine at his ill luck, or come down upon the play.
1892		H. Lawson ‘Press Gang’ in Roderick (1967–9) I 189: Would the rag support the workmen if they struck in sweater’s shop? / Would the rag come down on Sweater? (Catch a flea upon the hop!).
1900		Punch Jan. 31 80/2: There has never been a man who could come down on bores and fools so much like a cart-load of macadam.
1928		(con. WWI) H.F. Cruikshank ‘So This Is Flanders!’ Battle Stories July 🌐 When a feller is packin’ a actin’ stripe on his arm he’s the one what H.Q. is goina come down on.
1965		C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 141: You just go out there when those niggers start comin’ down on you.
1973		D. Goines Street Players 130: When these snakes come down on you like that, you just go back upstairs.
1980		J. McClure Spike Island (1981) 144: Unbalance them [...] I do it consciously: give a fella a fag and come down on the next one.
1997		G. Sikes 8 Ball Chicks (1998) 42: They say they want to help you, but they come down on you.

2. (also be down on) to put under pressure.

1879		G.R. Sims Dagonet Ballads 4: And the bobbies came down on us costers [...] And them as ’ud got no licence was summerned to pay the tax.
1905		Sporting Times 1 Apr. 3/2: If we don’t come down with the dibs on our own, the County Council, or one of those delightful institutions in our midst for wringing the last oat out of a long-suffering public, will be down upon us with a fine Jubilee rate.
1909		H. James High Bird in London Assurance & other Comedies Act I: Do you mean that you can come down on him?
1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 94: The heat’s coming down on gambling.
1975		Sepe & Telano Cop Team 197: Why do you guys have to come down this heavy on me for a bullshit warrant?
1981		M. Baker Nam (1982) 198: I went AWOL every night [...] The commanding officer tried to come down on us.
1995		(con. 1985–90) P. Bourjois In Search of Respect 150: They were really coming down on a lot of the employees [...] They were looking for reasons to let people go.

3. (orig. US black) to assault; to harass.

1952		(con. 1948) G. Mandel Flee the Angry Strangers 452: Let’s bust their heads [...] Let’s start comin down on anybody makin it rough for folks to live.
1972		D. Claerbut Black Jargon in White America 60: come down on v. 1. to harass or oppose, often verbally [...] 2. to fight; physically combat.
1976		N. Thornburg Cutter and Bone (2001) 88: Rock musicians [...] they’re the ones the police are coming down on, from what I hear.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 126: The lawmen came down on us from nowhere.

4. (drugs) of the pains of withdrawal symptoms, and thus the demands of drug-need, to intensify.

1968

N. Heard Howard Street 127: His habit came down on him and we didn’t have no money.

5. to move one emotionally in a positive manner.

1972

O. Hawkins Ghetto Sketches 174: I plays when my Thang comes down on me.

6. to pressurize emotionally, to depress.

1994

N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 181: My time started coming down on me when I realized I’d reached the one-year mark and had at least two to go.