happen along

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

happen along (third-person singular simple present happens along, present participle happening along, simple past and past participle happened along)

1. (intransitive, idiomatic) To arrive by chance; to occur by happenstance.
   • 1892, Julian Hawthorne, chapter 1, in The Golden Fleece:

     "Now, if a rattling good earthquake were to happen along, you might awake in the morning to find yourself on an island, or even under water."

   • 1909, L. Frank Baum, chapter 11, in The Road to Oz:

     "[W]e can't 'spect a cyclone to happen along and take us to the Emerald City now."

   • 1928 April 9, “Science: Heavenly Hubbub”, in Time:

     Novae, or new stars, are always happening along.

   • 2001, Linwood Barclay, Bad Move‎^[1], →ISBN, page 148:

     "Well, you're the one who's always telling me not to leave my purse in the cart, and that's probably what that woman had done, and someone happened along and just took it."

References

• “happen along”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.