come, v.³ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

come v.³

[abbr. SE come over, to become]

1. to practise some form of dodge, to pose or act in a certain way; usu. as come on v.¹; come over v.²; come the... v.

1824		J. Wight Mornings in Bow St. 23: ‘Hallo! missis,’ says I, ‘don't you come that ’ere [i.e. stealing his food] agen’.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn) 120: ‘Don’t come tricks here’ [...] i.e., we are aware of your practices and ‘twig’ your manoeuvre.
1879		Sporting Times 1 Mar. 2/4: Gubbins didn’t come that game again’.
1905		Sheffield Wkly Teleg. 14 Oct. 19/2: Guess it’s foolish trying to come any tricks over me.
1934		Western Dly Press 8 Feb. 4/5: If you come any funny stuff [...] he will call on your wife and tell her.
1936		J. Curtis Gilt Kid 68: Does he come any funny business?
1944		L. Glassop We Were the Rats 51: I’m awake-up, I am. Ya doan need ter come that stuff with me.
1958		(con. 1940s) B. Behan Borstal Boy 31: Don’t you come that stuff here.
1960		H. Pinter Caretaker Act III: Don’t come nothing with me, mate [...] Don’t come it with me.
1969		H. Rap Brown Die Nigger Die! 48: ‘You saw it!’ I yelled. ‘Don’t come handing me that.’.
1971		T. Lewis Plender [ebook]‘What for?’ ‘Don’t come that. You know what for’.
1977		(con. 1941) R. Beilby Gunner 257: Don’t come that stunt with me, sport, or I’ll point ya pizzle to the sky!
1982		G. Newbold Big Huey 122: The next time the screw tries to come any shit, you just tell him to do his own dirty work.

2. to learn, to show oneself fluent.

1854

Delhi Sketch Bk 1 May 60/1: I couldn’t come Awahic or Pawsian, but [...] I have learned to understand Scotch pwitty well.

In phrases

come... (v.)

see also under relevant n. or adj.

come a Cadorna (v.) [Ital. come a Cadorna, like Cadorna; General Cadorna, leader of the defeated Italian troops at WW1 battle of Caporetto in 1917]

(Aus/N.Z.) to suffer a disaster.

1920		Advocate (Burnie, Tas.) 5 June 7/2: You keep it under your hat, or you’ll come a Cadorna, I promise you!
1920		Hawera & Normanby Star (NZ) 27 Nov. 3/3: Caporetto was the Italian St Quentin; to ‘come a Cadorna’ became one rendering of a homely phrase with the Australian troops.

come a crash (v.)

(Aus.) to encounter difficulties.

1894		Quiz (Adelaide) 26 July 12/3: But don’t believe in anything so rash, / You will see these high-flown notions / Come a crash.
1918		J.S. Finney 5 July diary 🌐 Out at night as supply tank guide. Fritz countered but came an abominable crash.
1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 17: come a crash — To suffer misfortune.

come a Kerensky (v.) [A.F. Kerensky (1881–1970), prime minister of the second Russian provisional govt., deposed in the Bolshevik Revolution of Oct. 1917]

(Aus.) to suffer a humiliation.

1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 30: kerensky — To come a Kerensky. See gutzer.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: kerensky. To come a Karensky See ‘Gutzer’.

come a regimental (v.)

(Aus.) to get into trouble.

1919		Swan Exp. (Midland Junction, WA) 28 Nov. 4/4: [They Say] That if G. L. continues his practice of trying to fill last place in the hopes of getting a better handicap, he will come a Regimental ‘G’.
1919		Tweed Dly (Murwillumbah, NSW) 17 May 7/4: But I’ve come a regimental; I have lobbed; I’m down and out.
1920		Advocate (Burnie, Tas.) 5 June 7/2: Hope the big stiff comes a regimental — always was a non-starter.
1929		Land (Sydney) 16 Aug. 12/4: They could not understand the backing of Gay Ballerina and it was decided to take her out before anyone else backed her. Evidently some one has come a ‘regimental’.

come correct (v.)

(US black) to do something the way it should be done.

1994		Source Mar. 74: I can’t have him diss me, so I gotta come correct.
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 157: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Come hard. Come correct. Catch wreck.
2008		‘Grandmaster Flash’ Adventures 206: There’d been moments where it looked like Mel, Scorp, and Cowboy might come correct on our side, but then they stopped showing up.

come countryman over (v.) [the gullibility of the country-dweller]

to wheedle, to cajole, to trick.

1821–6

‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 147: At some pains in endeavouring to come countryman over Gilbert the moment they came into contact.

come good (v.) (orig. Aus./N.Z.)

1. of things, to turn out well.

1953

K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 16: From now on things are going to come good.

2. of people or animals, to prove themselves (esp. after an unpromising start), to ‘come up trumps’.

1915		Dly Mercury (Mackay, Qld) 3 Nov. 4/1: [headline] Railwaymen Come Good [...] 90,000 railway men had enlisted up to the present.
1929		Truth (Sydney) 10 Mar. 3/6: The Caravel two-year-olds have come good with a vengeance.
1957		‘Nino Culotta’ They’re a Weird Mob (1958) 116: Moody bastards. [...] They’ll come good in a minute.
1965		W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 64: For having accepted a bodgie coin, he would be obliged to come good out of his pay.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 22: She finally came good and let Old Jim keep the hound.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 79: Keith’s house is not a home. [...] It’s somewhere for the wife and child, and somewhere to flop, until Keith comes good on the ponies or the darts.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

come half-larks with (v.)

see under lark n.²

come Harry over (v.)

(UK Und.) to cheat.

1826

Vulgarities of Speech Corrected.

come on (v.)

see separate entry.

come over (v.)

see separate entry.

come Quaker on (v.)

(US) to defame.

1908

‘Old Sleuth’ Dock Rats of N.Y. (2006) 63: I might come ‘Quaker’ on you, and give you a bad name.

come strong (v.)

see come on strong under come on v.¹

come the... (v.)

see separate entries.

come v.3

In phrases

come v.³