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come up

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come up

 

1. Lit. to come from a lower place to a higher one. You can come up now. They are gone. Come up and enjoy the view from the tallest rooftop in the county.

2. Lit. to come near; to approach. He came up and began to talk to us. A heron came up while we were fishing, but it just ignored us.

3. Fig. to come to someone's attention. The question of what time to be there never came up. The matter came up, but it was never dealt with.

See also: come, up

come up

1. to be mentioned or talked about The issue will come up in the meeting on Monday.

2. to happen unexpectedly I don't care how well you planned, something always comes up that you didn't think of. Related vocabulary: crop up

See also: come, up

come up

1. Arise, present itself, as in This question never came up. [Mid-1800s]

2. Rise (from a lower place to a higher one) as in We'll leave as soon as the sun comes up. [9th century]

3. Also, come up to. Approach, come near, as in He came up and said hello, or The dog came right up to Nora. [Early 1700s]

4. Also, come up to. Rise in status or value, be equal to, as in His paintings will never come up to his teacher's, or This officer came up through the ranks. [c. 1600] A variant is come up or rise in the world , used for someone who has risen in rank, wealth, or status; for example, He has really come up in the world-he now owns a yacht, or I could see at once that she was a woman who would rise in the world. Also see the subsequent idioms beginning with come up.

See also: come, up

come up

v.

1. To rise or ascend: When the girl prodded the bottom of the pond with the stick, bubbles came up. I called into the basement and the children came up.

2. To appear above the horizon. Used of the sun, moon, and stars: The sun came up.

3. To become higher in value: Their grades came up once they started studying more.

4. To rise in status or rank: This general came up from the lower ranks very quickly.

5. To travel to a town or city, especially for a visit: Why don't you come up to New York for the weekend?

6. To travel to and arrive at a northern place: We came up to Canada to look for wolves.

7. To draw near to something or someone; approach something or someone: They came up and said hello to us.

8. To occur or arise, especially unexpectedly. Used of situations, issues, and problems: The principal couldn't go to the meeting because something important had come up at home. We never considered whether the kids should go with us; the question never came up.

See also: come, up