come to time

English

Etymology

The expression was used in prize fighting (boxing).

Verb

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

1. (dated) To come forward in order to resume the contest when the interval allowed for rest is over and "time" is called
   • 1834, Frederick Marryat, Jacob Faithful

     We fights for ten minutes or so, and then I hits him a round blow on the ear, and he falls down on the hard, and couldn't come to time. No wonder, poor fellow ! for he had gone to eternity.

2. To keep an appointment; to meet expectations.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “come to time”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)