come to a stop [for someone or some-
thing] to stop moving or happening.
The bus finally came to a stop so I could
get off. The loud noise finally came to
a stop.
come to blows (over something) [for peo-
ple] to become increasingly angry and
begin to fight about something, usually
by striking blows, or verbally. They got
excited about the accident, but they never
actually came to blows over it. Yes, they
aren’t the kind of people who come to
blows.
come to grief to fail; to have trouble or
grief. The artist wept when her canvas
came to grief. The wedding party came
to grief when the bride passed out.
come to grips with something to face some-
thing; to comprehend something. He
found it difficult to come to grips with his
grandmother’s death. Many students
have a hard time coming to grips with
algebra.
come to life to become alive or lively.
(Usually used in a figurative sense.)
The party came to life about midnight.
As the anesthetic wore off, the patient came
to life.
come to light to become known. Some
interesting facts about your past have just
come to light. If too many bad things
come to light, you may lose your job.
come to mind [for a thought or idea] to
enter into one’s consciousness. (Compare
this with cross someone’s mind.) Do I
know a good barber? No one comes to
mind right now. Another idea comes to
mind. Why not cut your own hair?
come to naught Go to come to nothing.
come to nothing and come to naught to
amount to nothing; to be worthless. So
all my hard work comes to nothing. Yes,
the whole project comes to naught.
come to pass to happen. (Formal.)
When did all of this come to pass?
will this event come to pass?
come to rest to stop moving. When the
car comes to rest, you can get in. The leaf
fell and came to rest at my feet.
come to terms with someone or something 1.
to come to an agreement with someone.
I finally came to terms with my lawyer
about his fee. Bob, you have to come to
terms with your father’s wishes. 2. to learn
to accept someone or something. (See
also come to grips with something.) She
had to come to terms with the loss of her
sight. It’s time you came to terms with
your boss and her unreasonable demands.
come to the fore to become prominent; to
become important. The question of
salary has now come to the fore. Since
his great showing in court, my lawyer has
really come to the fore in city politics.
come to the point and get to the point
to get to the important part (of some-
thing). He has been talking a long time.
I wish he would come to the point. Quit
wasting time! Get to the point! We are
talking about money, Bob! Come on, get to
the point.
come to the same thing Go to amount to
the same thing.
come to think of it I just remembered
[something]. Come to think of it, I
know someone who can help. I have a
screwdriver in the trunk of my car, come
to think of it.
come true [for a dream or a wish] actu-
ally to happen. When I got married, all
my dreams came true. Coming to the big
city was like having my wish come true.
come unglued to lose emotional control;
to have a mental breakdown; to break out
into tears or laughter. (Slang.) When
Sally heard the joke, she almost came
unglued. When the bank took away my
car, I came unglued and cried and cried.
come up to happen unexpectedly. (Also lit-
eral.) I’m sorry, I cannot come to your
party. Something has come up. The
storm came up so quickly that I almost got
blown away.
come up in the world to improve one’s
status or situation in life. Since Mary
got her new job, she has really come up in
the world. A good education helped my
brother come up in the world.
come up smelling like roses to end up
looking good or respectable after being
involved in some difficult or notorious
affair. It was a nasty political campaign,
but both candidates came up smelling like
roses. I was not surprised that my con-
gressional representative came up smelling
like roses after his colleagues investigated
him.
come up with someone or something to find
or supply someone or something.
came up with a date at the last minute.
My mom is always able to come up with a
snack for me in the afternoon. I don’t
have the tool you need, but I’ll see if I can
come up with something.
come what may no matter what might
happen. I’ll be home for the holidays,
come what may. Come what may, the
mail will get delivered.
come within an ace of doing something Go
to come within an inch of doing something.
come within an inch of doing something and
come within an ace of doing something al-
most to do something; to come very close
to doing something. I came within an
inch of going into the army. I came
within an inch of falling off the roof. She
came within an ace of buying the house.
come with the territory to be expected
under circumstances like this. (Refers to
the details and difficulties attendant to
something like the assignment of a spe-
cific sales territory to a salesperson.
When one accepts the assignment, one
accepts the problems.) There is a lot of
paperwork in this job. Oh, well, I guess it
comes with the territory. There are prob-
lems, but that comes with the territory.
comfortable as an old shoe Go to (as)
comfortable as an old shoe.
commit something to memory to memorize
something. We all committed the Get-
tysburg Address to memory. T I commit-
ted to memory the whole list of names and
numbers.
common as an old shoe Go to (as) com-
mon as an old shoe.
common as dirt Go to (as) common as
dirt.
con someone out of something to trick some-
one out of money or something of value.
(Slang.) Anne conned her little sister out
of her allowance. Dave conned me out
of my autographed baseball.
conceited as a barber ’s cat Go to (as)
conceited as a barber’s cat.
confide in someone to tell secrets or per-
sonal matters to someone. Sally always
confided in her sister Ann. She didn’t
feel that she could confide in her mother.
conk out 1. [for someone] to collapse as
from exhaustion. (Slang.) I was so tired
I just went home and conked out. I was
afraid I would conk out while I was driv-
ing. 2. [for something] to break down; to
quit running. (Slang.) My car conked
out finally. I hope my computer doesn’t
conk out.
conspicuous by one’s absence to have
one’s absence (from an event) noticed.
We missed you last night. You were con-
spicuous by your absence. How could the
bride’s father miss the wedding? He was
certainly conspicuous by his absence.
contradiction in terms a statement con-
taining a seeming contradiction. A
wealthy pauper is a contradiction in terms.
A straight-talking politician may seem
a contradiction in terms.
contrary to something in spite of something;
regardless of something. Contrary to
what you might think, I am neat and tidy.
Contrary to public opinion, my uncle is
well and healthy.
control the purse strings to be in charge
of the money in a business or a house-
hold. I control the purse strings at our
house. Mr. Williams is the treasurer. He
controls the purse strings.
cook someone’s goose to damage or ruin
someone. I cooked my own goose by not
showing up on time. Sally cooked Bob’s
goose for treating her the way he did.
cook something to perfection to cook
something perfectly. John cooked my
steak to perfection. The entire dinner
was cooked to perfection!
cook something up to plot something; to im-
provise something. (Also literal.) Mary
cooked an interesting party up at the last
minute. T Let me see if I can cook up a
way to get you some money.
cook the accounts to cheat in bookkeep-
ing; to make the accounts appear to bal-
ance when they do not. Jane was sent
to jail for cooking the accounts of her
mother’s store. It’s hard to tell whether
she really cooked the accounts or just did-
n’t know how to add.
cool as a cucumber Go to (as) cool as a
cucumber.
cool down Go to cool off.
Cool it! Calm down!; Take it easy! (Slang.)
Don’t get mad, Bob. Cool it! Cool it,
you guys! No fighting around here.
cool off and cool down 1. to lose or re-
duce heat. I wish my soup would cool
off. I’m hungry. It’ll cool down this eve-
ning, after dusk. 2. to let one’s anger die
away. I’m sorry I got angry. I’ll cool off
in a minute. Cool off, Tom. There is no
sense getting so excited. 3. to let one’s pas-
sion or love die away. TED: Is Bob still
in love with Jane? BILL: No, he’s cooled off
a lot. TED: I thought that they were
both cooling down.
cool one’s heels to wait (for someone). (In-
formal.) I spent all afternoon cooling
my heels in the waiting room while the
doctor talked on the telephone. All right.
If you can’t behave properly, just sit down
here and cool your heels until I call you.
cool someone down and cool someone off
1. to reduce someone’s anger. (Also lit-
eral.) I just stared at him while he was
yelling. I knew that would cool him down.
The coach talked to them for a long
time. That cooled them off. 2. to reduce
someone’s passion or love. When she
slapped him, that really cooled him down.
Dating Mary was too intense, so Bill
cooled himself off by dating Sally for a
while.
cool someone off Go to cool someone down.
cop a plea to plead guilty to a crime in
hopes of receiving a lighter punishment.
(Slang, especially criminal slang.) The
robber copped a plea and got only two
years in jail. When you cop a plea, it
saves the court system a lot of money.
a copycat a person who copies or mimics
what someone else does. (Usually juve-
nile. Can be preceded by be, become, seem
like, or act like.) Sally wore a pink dress
just like Mary’s. Mary called Sally a copy-
cat. Bill is such a copycat. He bought a
coat just like mine.
cost an arm and a leg to cost too much.
It cost an arm and a leg, so I didn’t buy
it. Why should a little plastic part cost
an arm and a leg?
cost a pretty penny to cost a lot of money.
I’ll bet that diamond cost a pretty
penny. You can be sure that house cost
a pretty penny. It has seven bathrooms.
cough something up to produce something
unwillingly (that someone has re-
quested). (Also literal. Informal.) All
right, Bill. Cough the stolen diamonds up
or else. Okay, okay. I’ll cough them up.
T Bill had to cough up forty dollars to pay
for the broken window.
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