English

Verb

to 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, Bible (KJV), 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.‎

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

Derived terms

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

Translations