come by
Britishverb
-
Acquire, obtain, as in A good assistant is hard to come by . This usage, dating from about 1600, superseded the earlier sense of acquiring something with considerable effort. A variant is come by honestly , meaning “to obtain in some honorable or logical way.” For example, I'm sure she didn't come by that large bonus honestly or He does have an unusual gait but he came by it honestly; his father's is the same .
-
Stop in, visit, as in Please come by whenever you're in the neighborhood . [Late 1800s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The 24-year-old was stuck alongside the highway in the November chill until another driver came by to pick him up and deliver the load of frozen chicken to its destination.
Land, skilled construction crews, and power are becoming harder to come by.
From Barron's
The landlord came by this morning and loved the piece.
From Los Angeles Times
One said people hide in their homes when reporters come by.
From BBC
Outside of Summers’ voluntary resignations, consequences for American politicians who appear in the Epstein files have been hard to come by.
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
