Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US black) to disappoint, to fail to reach expectations (whether one’s own or those of others).

a.1954

‘Mexicana Rose’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 40: If you come up weak, I’m going for your knot and gut, / And throw you in the gutter like an ordinary slut.

to be naïve, gauche, inexperienced or stupid.

1938

J. Curtis They Drive by Night 87: Oh yeah? Left your coat behind on a night like this. Don’t come that old acid. We wasn’t born yesterday. Think I’ve just come up?

see come out moldy under come out v.

1. to succeed at or with.

1968

S. Gore Holy Smoke 30: When he hears all this corroboree going on [...] he says to some bloke who’s come outside for a couple of drags at a smoke, ‘What gives – the old man come up on the lottery or something?’.

2. (US black) to obtain.

1996

P. Beatty White Boy Shuffle 134: Oh shit, folks coming up on free computers and shit.

to be stupid.

1968		UK Parlty Debates 777 cdvii/1: Members opposite must think we have just come up on the down train. Just because it is a Private Member's Bill, do they expect us to believe that it has nothing to do with the Conservative Party?
2001		OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 (you think I...) came up on the down train? p. objection to being called stupid.

(Irish) to be naïve, gullible; usu. in phr. do you think I came up... / I didn’t come up...

1995		Leinster Leader (Naas, County Kildare) 31 Aug. n.p.: We’ve all heard the expression ‘I didn’t come up the river on a bike,’ meaning ‘I’m no fool’ [BS].
1995		P. Boland Tales From a City Farmyard n.p.: The Ma [...] then smiled at me and said [...] ‘Did you gang of toughs think I came up on the last load?’ [BS].
2004		C.A. Thompson Betrayal of Innocence 45: I suppose you think that I come up on the last load, but I didn’t.

see under smell v.

(orig. boxing) to face a difficult circumstance without showing fear or complaining.

1861		Dickens Uncommercial Traveller 75: [His] expression was that of a prize-fighter who had closed his eyelids under a heavy blow, but was going immediately to open them, shake his head, and ‘come up smiling’.
1878		O.W. Holmes J.L. Motley 117: I don’t think it is in English nature [...] to take such punishment and come up smilin.
1883		W. Black Sunrise 329: Bless you! lots of fellows have had to fight through the same thing, and they come up smiling after it.
1895		G.A. Henty Girl of the Commune 85: I reckon if a chap can’t take one on the nose and come up smiling, he would not be worth much when he has to stand up against the Prussians.
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 5 Jul. 14/3: But fickle man is attracted by fresh faces, and male attention makes up for much female snubbing. At afternoon parties, receptions, and such I have seen some very pronounced cold-shouldering. But the Federal misses always came up smiling.
1910		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘Happy, Though Worried’ Sporting Times 26 Feb. 1/3: But he comes up smiling after the most venomous outburst.
1927		Boy’s Life Mar. 10/1: He could stand up to anything that came along, take punishment like a man, and come up smiling for more.
1938		Surrey Mirror 18 Nov. 13/4: The third oldest member of the Council had come in for more critcism than any other [...] but he had always come up smiling.

(US) to find oneself in an unpleasant or problematic situation.

1979

E. Torres After Hours 4: You came up tails.

(Ulster) to be naïve, gullible; usu. in phr. do you think I came up.../I didn’t come up...

1992		R. Allen Waste Not, Want Not 14: The natives in this part of the woods are not as green propaganda wise [...] than they used to be and that although they live on its banks, to use an old Derry phrase, ‘they didn't come up the Foyle in a bubble’.
1997		Share Slanguage.

(US) to perform as expected, to meet expectations.

1836		D. Crockett Exploits and Adventures 73: He soon recovered himself, and came up to the chalk again.
1844		‘Jonathan Slick’ High Life in N.Y. I 215: If any on ’em see anything that don’t come right up to the chalk [...] they may be sartin it ain’t mine.
1851		Lewisburg Chron. (PA) 15 Oct. 1/5: The American department don’t quite come up to the chalk.
1868		Tarboro’ Southerner (NC) 28 May 4/2: he held his promises sacred, and when he made one he was pretty sure to come up to the chalk.
1872		Schele De Vere Americanisms 318: The President, in whom he is disappointed for one reason or another, does not come up to chalk.
1877		Memphis Daily Appeal (TN) 9 Dec. 2/4: But’s de banjo dat you wants to hear, sah, / [...] / Jis set yourself sdown in dat cheer, sah, / And I’ll make her jes come up to chalk.
1884		‘Mark Twain’ Huckleberry Finn n.p.: So the duke said these Arkansas lunkheads couldn’t come up to Shakespeare [R].
1895		Arizona Sentinel (Yuma, AZ) 26 Oct. 1/5: These ’eer passengers has got to come up to the chalk, they has.
1906		L.A. Herald 30 Oct. 6/7: If I were King [...] I’d have the city dads come up to chalk.
1914		Farmington Times (MO) 5 June 8/1: We will treat you square. You will find that our statements come up to the chalk mark.

(US) to make a decision to do one thing or another, to stop dithering, to do what one has to do, to accept one’s duty.

1834		D. Crockett Narrative of the Life of D.C. (1934) 42: I was determined to stand up to my rack, fodder or no fodder.
1835		D. Crockett Col. Crockett’s Tour to North and Down East 69: I never opposed Andrew Jackson for the sake of popularity. I knew it was a hard row to hoe; but I stood up to the rack.
1837		R.M. Bird Nick of the Woods III 164: There’s a bargain first to be struck between us, afore I comes up to the rack.
1842		Juliet Courier 2 Feb. 4/4: Come up to the rack today, and bring the fodder with you [DA].
1848		J.F. Cooper Oak-openings (1854) II 43: The English used to boast that the Americans wouldn't ‘stand up to the rack,’ if the baggonet was set to work; but this was before we got our own tooth-picks.
1858		Bellevue Gaz. (NE) 11 Mar. 3/1: Mr Kinney would be highly pleased to have those who are indebted to him come up to the rack and shell out the smooth pieces.
1861		Nat. Republican (Wash., DC) 26 Apr. 2/3: There was a holding back on the part of some [...] cotton factorage houses, which made immense sums [...] Possibly they may come up to the rack to-day.
1878		State Jrnl (Jefferson City, MO) 25 Jan. 2/3: The tax-papers of the city must come up to the rack [...] and pay.
1882		Eve. Bulletin (Maysville, KY) 24 Nov. 1/2: I want to bring tbis young man to time. he’s either got to come up to the rack, or jump the fence.
1892		Durham Daily Globe (NC) 16 July 2/2: All come up to the rack and drop your money in the box.
1903		G. Brown How to Beat Game 74: It keeps about two-thirds of them constantly financiering in order to ‘come up to the rack’ [DA].
a.1909		press cutting in J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 87/2: Well, I want to bring this young man to time. Fact is, he’s either got to come up to the rack – or jump the fence.
1913		Madisonian (Lexington, KY) 28 Oct. 10/3: A lot of soldiers who would stand up to the rack and vote Democrat.

to turn out satisfactorily, esp. when a bad result seems more likely.

1843		Northampton Mercury 5 Aug. 1/4: Indeed the country [...] appred to be placed in this situation [...] in the position of a man who had played his last card and which had not come up trumps.
1852		Leics. Mercury 8 May 3/2: The Tories [...] assure us that the Derby Cabinet will be eternal if the following ifs all come up trumps.
1854		Bradford Reporter (Towanda, PA) 28 Oct. 2/2: It may destroy the Presidential prospects of certain gentlemen who have been playing desperate games to come up ‘trump’.
1878		Blackwood’s Edin. Mag. 178 410/1: When a thing does come up trumps at last, he will have his chance.
1890		Dover Express 25 Apr. 2/6: To my advantage! [...] Those shares in the Nevada Silver Mine come up trumps after all?
1903		J. Frankau Pigs in Clover 297: As far as he knew, there had not been a deal through him, or through his firm, that had not come up trumps.
1918		Western Times 9 Mar. 3/2: The farmers have come up trumps on this occasion.
1927		Aberdeen Jrnl 21 May 2/5: the team [...] might easily come up trumps in the run-getting department.
1935		Gloucs. Echo 23 Mar. 5/5: Horses that have been hurdling frequently come up trumps.
1943		Eve. Teleg. 8 Oct. 9/4: The maxims ‘Stick to a winning team’ and ‘Fewest changes, fewest defeats,’ cannot be guaranteed to come up trumps every time.
1953		Sussex Agricultural Express 11 Sept. 1/9: The Rotary Club always come up trumps.
1973		B.S. Johnson All Bull 96: It was Geletly who came up trumps.
1985		J. Sullivan ‘As One Door Closes’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] Didn’t I tell you two that Mum’d come up trumps.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 26: The toff came up trumps.
2000		Guardian G2 13 Jan. 9: They never really came up trumps on the day.

(US black) doing well, making a career.

2008

‘Grandmaster Flash’ Adventures 100: The other big DJ on the come-up was Afrika Bambaataa [...] he’d rock a set of jams I couldn’t dream of matching.