English

Noun

oncoming ‎(plural oncomings)

1. Approach, onset
   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses, Penguin, 2000, p. 502,

     Some man that wayfaring was stood by housedoor at night's oncoming.

   • 1923, Powys Mathers, The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Rendered into English from the Literal and Complete French Translation of Dr. J. C. Mardrus, London: Routledge, 2005, Vol. IV, p. 192,

     When she saw the oncoming of the armed men, with the King shining at their head, Little-Foot was again thrown into terror and begged her brother to escape while there was yet time […]

   • 1924, D. H. Lawrence, "Jimmy and the Desperate Woman" in The Complete Short Stories, Vol. 3, Penguin, 1977, p. 609,

     Instead, the sound of muffled drums

     Inside myself: I have to lean

     And listen as my strength succumbs,

     To hear what these oncomings mean.

   • 1958, Sylvia Plath, "Whiteness I Remember" in The Collected Poems, New York: Harper & Row, 1981, p. 103,

     […] And

     Wouldn't slow for the hauled reins, his name,

     Or shouts of walkers: crossroad traffic

     Stalling curbside at his oncoming

     The world subdued to his run of it.

Adjective

oncoming ‎(not comparable)

1. approaching; coming closer

   Look carefully before pulling out into oncoming traffic.

   • 1894, Ivan Dexter, Talmud: A Strange Narrative of Central Australia, published in serial form in Port Adelaide News and Lefevre's Peninsula Advertiser (SA), Chapter XIII,

     The attack was made so unexpectedly that Garfield had no time to escape the oncoming spears, three of which struck him in the body.

   • 1937, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, Ballantine, 1982, Chapter 13, p. 242,

     A bitter easterly breeze blew with a threat of oncoming winter.

   • 1969, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, On Death and Dying, New York: Scribner, 2003, pp. 52-3,

     A healthier, stronger individual can deal with it better and is less frightened by oncoming death when it is still "miles away" than when it "is right in front of the door," as one of our patients put it so appropriately.

   • 1970, Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye, New York: Vintage, 2007, p. 40,

     Because it had not taken place immediately, the oncoming fight would lack spontaneity; it would be calculated, uninspired, and deadly.

Translations

Noun

oncoming ‎(plural oncomings)

1. an early stage; an onset
2. an approach

Anagrams

• coming on