▪ I. coming, vbl. n.1
(ˈkʌmɪŋ)
[f. come v. + -ing1.]
1. The action of the vb. come in various senses: drawing near, approaching; arrival, advent.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 3957 Quen [Esau] of his cuming herd. c 1300 K. Alis. 5541 Of his comyng hy weren blithe. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 448, I knowe..the cause of youre comyng. c 1400 Destr. Troy 12993 At his comyng to kacche hym olyue. 1535 Coverdale Mal. iii. [iv.] 5 Before the commynge off the daye of the great and fearfull Lorde. 1626 Bacon Sylva §140 Pease, which have their price very much increased by the early coming. 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 67 Her Masters second comming. 1883 Lloyd Ebb & Flow II. 269 The coming of death. |
† 2. Derivation, descent; origin; lineage. Obs.
| c 1430 Freemasonry 718 Presume not to hye..For thyn hye blod, ny thy comynge. |
3. The coming time, the future. rare.
| 1839–48 Bailey Festus xxxvi. 364 It may be in the coming..We may be worth forgiving. |
† 4. Access; means of access: approach. Obs.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiv. liv. (1495) 487 To suche a place is no comynge that is soo strengthyd. 1450 in Three 15th C. Chron. (Camden 1880) 95 That eny man myght have his comynge to hym. 1667 Pepys Diary 6 Jan., An extraordinary good house, and a fine coming to it. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece iii. 214 This City hath one of the pleasantest Comings to it imaginable. 1715 Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) I. 29 Doors [so] placed, that there may be a free coming to them from all parts of the House. |
5. With the prepositional constructions of the verb.
| 1447–8 J. Shillingford Let. (Camd. Soc.) 54 Our comynge haste to London. 1577 Harrison Descr. Brit. Ded. in Holinshed, The..extraordinarie coming by sundrie treatises not supposed to be extant. 1649 Milton Eikon. 2 At his coming to the Crown. 1884 Daily News 23 Sept. 6/1 A white dress which she wore at a coming-of-age party. |
6. With adverbs. coming out [come v. 67 o], (of a young woman) entering society; also attrib.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 17646 Paisful be þi coming hedir. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §9 At the comynge vp of all maner of corne. 1530 Palsgr. 207/1 Commyng nere, approche. 1611 Tarleton Jests in Hazl. Shaks. Jest-bks. (1864) II. 221 At the first comming up of Tobacco. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. viii. 37 The comming on of Winter. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 185 The swift coming about of the work. 1726 Swift Gulliver (1869) 215/1 At my first coming over. 1792 W. Roberts Looker-on No. 6 We behold neither its coming-on, nor its career, nor its departure. 1798 Miller in Nicolas Disp. Nelson (1846) VII. p. clv, Her coming-to nearly abreast the inner side of the fifth ship. 1814 Jane Austen Mansf. Park II. ix. 202 Miss Price had not been brought up to the trade of coming out. 1847 Emerson Poems (1857) 52 The punctual coming-back..of the birds. 1877 S. O. Jewett Deephaven xiii. 280 Miss Sally told us a long story about her friends and about her ‘coming-out party’. 1903 Mrs. Vaizey P. O'Shaughnessy xxiii. 240 Bridgie wore her coming-out dress. 1949 ‘J. Tey’ Brat Farrar ii. 12 Her aunt..had been responsible for her coming-out. |
7. esp. coming in. a. The action of the vb. come in (come v. 63); entrance, commencement, etc.
| 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 7 His comming in with archane science. 1611 Bible 2 Kings xiii. 20 The comming in of the yeere. 1637 R. Humfrey tr. S. Ambrose i. 89 The comming in of his salary and stipend. 1684 Narborough Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1711) 24 At my coming in with the Land. 1846 Trench Mirac. iii. (1862) 135 Comings in of a new and hitherto unwonted power into the region of nature. 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 501 Those at home..Narrow'd her goings out and comings in. |
† b. A means of entrance; an entry. Obs.
| a 1483 Earl Rivers Let. in Gairdner Rich. III (1878) App. 395 Ye will leve a rome afore the comyng in at the yete in the newe wall. 1535 Coverdale Ezek. xliii. 11 Shewe them the fourme and fashion of the temple: the commynge in, the going out, all the maner and descripcion therof. 1693 N. Staphorst in Ray Trav. (1738) II. 17 In many houses the comings-in are so dark and deep that one would think he were going into a cave. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) II. v. 114 The entry, or coming in to the..tent. |
c. pl. (rarely sing.) Revenues, receipts; income.
| 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. i. 260 What are thy Rents? what are thy Commings in? 1603 Florio Montaigne (1632) 136 Let my expences goe together with my comming in. a 1659 Osborn Queries (1673) 603 Her Comings-in are Mathematically adjusted to her Layings-out. 1760 Goldsm. Cit. W. lxv, Our comings-in was but about three shillings a-week. 1823 Lamb Elia Ser. i. xxiii. (1865) 180 [Poverty's] poor rents and comings-in are soon summed up and told. |
d. Calving. dial. and U.S.
| 1857 Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. II. 381 The coming in of the cows should be regulated to occur in early spring. |
▪ II. † ˈcoming, vbl. n.2 Now dial.
Also combing.
[app. (from quots. 1483, 1577, 1688) orig. the same word as prec.: see come v. 14; but it appears to have been referred in later times to come n.2, and it is now in some dialects pronounced (ˈkəʊmɪŋ) in sense 2.]
1. Sprouting, esp. of barley in the malting.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 86 Cummynge [v.r. Cummyn] as malte, germinatus. 1577 Harrison England ii. vi. (1877) i. 156 To shoote at the root end, which maltsters call Comming. 1615 Markham Eng. Housew. (1660) 170 It beginneth but to sprout, (which is called coming of Malt). 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. iii. 105 The comeing of Barley or Malt is the spritting of it, as if it cast out a root. Wither it: is to cast it abroad on the kill floor, when it is come, that the comeings may wither away. |
2. concr. in pl. The comes or dried radicles of malted grain; malt-dust.
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 320/2 Cleanse the Malt from Dust and Comings. 1824 Mech. Mag. No. 41. 206 Comings, being the radicles of barley, produced in the process of malting. 1888 W. Somerset Word-bk. 151 In the process of malting, each corn of barley grows a very distinct root..These roots are called combings, or combs. |
▪ III. ˈcoming, ppl. a.
[f. come v. + -ing2.]
1. a. That comes; approaching in space or time.
| c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 138 In tyme comyng. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 372 The comming morne. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 230 Mindful of coming Cold. 1802 Campbell Lochiel's W., Coming events cast their shadows before. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 182 Indications of a coming storm. 1850 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 102 Mr. C. may be in Scotland this coming month. |
b. With adverbs: see the vb.
| 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. i. 113 Now I will be your Rosalind in a more comming-on dispositon: and aske me what you will, I will grant it. a 1754 Fielding New Way to Keep Wife at home Wks. 1775 II. 158 This is a sharper, and no coming-down cull. 1847 Illust. Lond. News 24 July 64/1 The coming-in train was a very long one. 1889 Daily News 4 Dec., He shows a very ‘coming on’ disposition. |
2. Inclined to make or meet advances; ready, eager, complaisant, forward. (In good or bad sense.)
| 1600 [see coming-on in 1 b]. 1605 B. Jonson Volpone iii. v, If you were absent she would be more coming. 1642 Rogers Naaman 22 Have a comming soule to this offer. 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. 81. 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. I. 75 A warning unto me not..to be so coming and so good-natured for the future. 1675 Crowne Country Wit ii. i, What a kind coming Lady she is who would fain be serenaded. a 1676 Earl of Orrery Guzman iv. No Hawk that's sharp-set will be more coming than he. a 1701 Sedley Wks. (1722) I. 77 Sometimes coming, sometimes coy. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones (1775) 162 When wenches are so coming, young men are not so much to be blaimed neither. 1836 T. Hook G. Gurney xvii, There she was, as kind and coming as could be. |
† 3. coming stomach: a keen appetite. Obs.
| 1694 R. L'Estrange Fables 1 That very Lapidary himself, with a coming stomach, and in the Cock's place, would have made the Cock's choice [i.e. preferred a barley-corn to a jewel]. 1708 W. King Cookery 48 The poor boy..had a coming stomach. |
† 4. Becoming, comely. Obs. rare. Cf. come v. 26.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 3032 Semyt as þai [sc. browes] set were sotely with honde, Comyng in compas, & in course Rounde. |
5. Rising into prominence; likely to attain distinction.
| 1865 Atlantic Monthly XV. 635 The job was the taking of Charleston and the ‘coming man’ was Brigadier-General..Gillmore. a 1867 H. Woodruff Trotting Horse Amer. (1868) xxxiv. 282 Many thought then Lancet was the ‘coming horse’. 1869 S. Bowles Our New West xiii. 261, I can discover no successor to Brigham Young. He has men of ability..but I see no ‘coming man’ for his place. 1946 C. Fry Phoenix too Frequent (1949) 3 He was one of the coming men. He was certain to have become the most well-organized provost The town has known. |
▪ IV. coming
obs. form of coaming.