English

Verb

come to one's senses

1. (idiomatic) To reawaken after having lost consciousness.
   • 1884, Wilkie Collins, Mr. Lepel and the Housekeeper, First Epoch:

     [H]e dropped from his seat at my side, like a man struck dead. The stifling heat in the theater had proved too much for him. We carried him out at once into the fresh air. When he came to his senses, my friend entreated me to leave him, and see the end of the play.

   • 1904, David Graham Phillips, The Cost, ch. 25:

     He turned toward the door, plunged forward, fell unconscious. . . . When he came to his senses he was in his bed—comfortable, weak, lazy.

   • 2015 Sep. 1, Aadya Sharma, "Sairaj Bahutule: Indian domestic cricket legend," sportskeeda.com (retrieved 2 Oct 2016):

     The accident sent Bahutule into coma straight away. When he came to his senses, he lay in bed with a fractured right femur bone and a crushed left elbow.

2. (idiomatic) To become reasonable, comprehending, or responsible, especially after having behaved in an unreasonable, uncomprehending, or irresponsible manner.
   • 1904, E. W. Hornung, At Large, ch. 32:

     Dick had not been altogether in his right senses. . . . He found his mother weeping as though her heart would break; whereat his own heart smote him so that he came to his senses there and then, and knelt in humility and shame at her feet.

   • 1928, D. H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley's Lover, ch. 19:

     "I shall never divorce you," he said, as if a nail had been driven in. . . .

     She went upstairs and told Hilda the upshot.

     "Better get away tomorrow," said Hilda, "and let him come to his senses."

   • 2010 Jan. 26, Bobby Ghosh, "The Haiti Earthquake," Time (retrieved 2 Oct 2016):

     "She is mad with sorrow, but maybe after a few days she will come to her senses," says one man.

Synonyms

• (reawaken): come to
• (become reasonable, comprehending, or responsible):, smarten up