Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a verbal or other rejoinder.

1889		Kansas Times and Star 9 Nov. n.p.: He shouldn’t thus invite a sarcastic ‘come-back’ .
1899		Ade Fables in Sl. (1902) 132: Chump that he was, and all Rattled, he told her his Name, instead of giving her the scorching Come-Back that he composed next Day, when it was Too Late.
1904		‘Hugh McHugh’ I’m from Missouri 68: You have a swell bunch of come-backs, haven’t you?
1914		R. Lardner You Know Me Al (1984) 140: He says something back but it was not no hot comeback like mine.
1925		D. Hammett ‘Scorched Face’ Story Omnibus (1966) 68: Pat didn’t stop with the snappy comeback.
1939		R. Chandler ‘Trouble Is My Business’ in Spanish Blood (1946) 212: You make a nice comeback.
1949		I. Shulman Cry Tough! 116: The benches were monopolized by boys and girls who found the weather and the night made to order for pick-ups, banter, and flashy comebacks.
1953		T. Runyon In For Life 204: I managed to laugh a comeback.
1965		G. Melly Owning Up (1974) 145: Of course he had a come-back [...] he pointed out that to him ‘All you cunts is transpontine’.
1972		Milner & Milner Black Players 157: Her ability with a quick come-back is likely to catch the fancy of a trick who is bored and seeks entertainment as well as sex.
1986		R. Campbell In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 186: You know all the snappy comebacks.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 234: ‘You’re wondering if Pierce told me to be receptive.’ He couldn’t think of a comeback.
2001		(con. 1975–6) E. Little Steel Toes 93: George is still half asleep and slow with a comeback.
2012		D. Spivey ‘If You Were Only White’ 5: [T]he art of the game [i.e. ‘the dozens’] being to top your opponent’s verbal jousts with superior comebacks.

2. repercussions, results; retaliation; a complaint.

1898		W.T. Stead Satan’s Invisble World Displayed 114: ‘Come-backs’ [...] the term was also applied to the complaint lodged by a victim [of a con-man].
1908		K. McGaffey Sorrows of a Show Girl Ch. xix: Where’s my comeback? I ask you as a lady, where do I get off?
1915		Van Loan ‘On Account of a Lady’ in Taking the Count 139: I don’t mind tellin’ you a few things [...] but I don’t want no comeback.
1920		B. Cronin Timber Wolves 250: I don’t quite understand why Garraway hasn’t tried any comeback at us.
1937		(con. 1905–25) E.H. Sutherland Professional Thief (1956) 199: It [i.e. burglary] is too dangerous, the come-back is too sure.
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 91: Curley built up a strong organization to make a come-back.
1964		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 96–7: Back in Pearl Harbour the Japs had their day, / but General Douglas MacArthur made a comeback play.
1974		G.F. Newman You Flash Bastard 63: there could always be the convenient delay in the passing of messages to Division requesting local CID help, or the mislaying of such a message, in the event of comebacks.
1982		G. Newbold Big Huey 125: When nothing happened after several days we [...] realised that there would be no comeback.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 438: If there’s any comeback on me or my band tonight, you’re fucking dead.
2001		N. Barlay Hooky Gear 203: Plus a money-back guarantee. He give a nervous chuckle, knowin the last thing he want is comeback.

3. a monetary payment.

1911		S. Ford Torchy 11: You’d thought they’d come a runnin’ at a chance like that, wouldn’t you? [...] But say, only about one in ten ever hands us a comeback.
c.1925		G. MacAdam ‘O. Henry's Only Autobiographia’ in O. Henry Papers (rev. edn) 8: ‘He had a heart like that [...] If he had $10 he'd give it to you [...] He was always helping some of the boys out, and never a come-back’.