Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. of an object, to deliver, to give up.

1908		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 56: Come through with ten bucks Jeffries. That’s a nice little fellow.
1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 25: come through [...] To give up, to deliver, [...] any material goods demanded.
c.1930		(ref. to late 19C) N. Kimball Amer. Madam (1981) 224: I had a letter from Konrad Ritchie’s lawyer, writing there was deposited for me in a New Orleans bank the sum of eleven thousand dollars. Konrad had come through.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 47/1: Come through. [...] 3. To pay, as tribute, ‘protection’ sums; to produce concealed loot upon the demand of suspicious associates.
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 266: Well, this cat has come through with smokes and food and candy.
2012		M. McBride Frank Sinatra in a Blender [ebook] Not that Big Tony came through on his end. He still never found any crank.

2. (US) to pay one’s debts.

1907

B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 19: You understand of course that we get our bit out of that mazuma. Come through.

3. (US) to confess, to provide information, to speak out.

1908		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 104: The public’s gettin’ wise to you, / They can’t see why you don’t come through.
1915		G. Bronson-Howard God’s Man 379: Come through with the whole story or I’ll give an extra twist to that pretty little paw.
1925		D. Hammett ‘Tom, Dick, or Harry’ in Nightmare Town (2001) 249: He wouldn’t come through, and we never turned up his gun.
1932		J. Dixon Free To Love 260: In the morning Cathleen learned that Joe Neilsen had decided to ‘come through’ on the bomb plot.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 47/1: Come through. [...] 2. To confess; to implicate others.

4. to act as desired, to do what is wanted.

1913		Van Loan ‘The Mexican Marvel’ in Lucky Seventh (2004) 186: If the coon can’t come through with the language—.
1927		K. Nicholson Barker II i: If Chris has got the right stuff in him he’ll come through.
1935		D. Lamson We Who Are About to Die 193: The woman’s got the money on her, an’ she comes through with it without no trouble.
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 112: Whether it was a promise to do you a favour, or to fix your little red wagon, Nick always came through.
1958		F. Norman Bang To Rights 138: She did um and ar a bit but she came through like a good un.
1963		M. Spillane Return of the Hood 55: Knock it off, Shaffer. Are you coming through?
1970		G.F. Newman Sir, You Bastard 202: He’s phoning me. I think he’ll come through.
1980		(con. 1940s–60s) H. Huncke ‘Florence’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1998) 199: Florence complained of Charlie not coming through fairly.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 285: You can call me back in one hour and tell me Boston came through, or I’ll call those assholes myself.
2001		Source Aug. 124: Teddy had someone look me up, and I came through with my verse instantly.
2024		D. Swierczynski California Bear 42: Violet had come through for her — dropping stuff off at her aunt and uncle’s apartment.

5. to survive, to overcome problems.

1913		Day Book (Chicago) 14 Oct. 9/1: Humphries might have come through safely but for a piece of luck that broke against him in the fourth inning.
1929		W.R. Burnett Little Caesar (1932) 91: Don’t beef, Sam. We’re gonna come through.