come down

See also: comedown and come-down

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Verb

come down (third-person singular simple present comes down, present participle coming down, simple past came down, past participle come down)

1. (intransitive) To descend, fall down, collapse.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Genesis 45:9:

     Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:

     No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.

   • 1995, Ash, Goldfinger

     I'm feeling so alive, feeling so real / On a stormy night, the rain is coming down / Rain like never before / I've got some records on, some bottles of wine / On a stormy night, the rain is lashing down / And I'm waiting for her.

   A tree came down and hit me on the head.

2. (intransitive) To be demolished.

   The damage sustained in the fire is so great that the whole building will have to come down.

3. (intransitive) To decrease.

   Real estate prices have come down since the peak of the boom.

4. (intransitive) To reach a decision.

   I can't guess which way the board will come down on the project.

5. (intransitive) To be passed through time.

   Much wisdom has come down in the form of proverbs.

6. (intransitive, idiomatic) To return from an elevated state of consciousness or emotion.

   He finally came down from his post-bonus high.

   • 1995, Jarvis Cocker (lyrics), “Sorted For E’s and Wizz”, in Different Class, performed by Pulp:

     In the middle of the night, it feels alright / But then tomorrow morning / Ooh, ooh, then you come down

7. (intransitive, Britain) To graduate from university, especially an Oxbridge university.

Derived terms

• come down on
• come down to
• come down with

Translations

descend, fall

• Arabic:

  Egyptian Arabic: نزل‎ (nizil)

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 下來 (zh), 下来 (zh) (xiàlái), 降 (zh) (jiàng)

• Egyptian: (hꜣj)
• Finnish: kaatua (fi) (fall); laskeutua (fi) (descend)
• French: descendre (fr), tomber (fr)
• German: herunterkommen (de)

• Greek:

  Ancient: κατέρχομαι (katérkhomai)

• Japanese: 降りる (ja) (おりる, oriru)
• Korean: 내려오다 (ko) (naeryeooda)
• Latin: descendō
• Malagasy: midina (mg), mianjera (mg)
• Russian: (descend) спускаться (ru) impf (spuskatʹsja), спуститься (ru) pf (spustitʹsja); (fall) падать (ru) impf (padatʹ), упасть (ru) pf (upastʹ)
• Tocharian B: kārp-
• Turkish: düşmek (tr)
• Ugaritic: 𐎊𐎗𐎄 (yrd)

be demolished

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: purkaa (fi)
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: çökmek (tr)

decrease

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: laskea (fi), alentua (fi)

• French: chuter (fr)
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: azalmak (tr)

reach a decision

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: päättää (fi)

• French: faire son choix
• Russian: please add this translation if you can

be passed through time

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: välittyä (fi)

• French: {t|fr|être transmis}}
• Russian: please add this translation if you can

return from an elevated state of consciousness

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: laskeutua (fi)
• Russian: please add this translation if you can

graduate — see graduate

Anagrams

• downcome