come-hither, n. colloq.
(ˌkʌmˈhɪðə(r))
[f. vbl. phr. come hither: see come v. 34.]
An invitation to approach, so fig. enticement. Chiefly in attrib. use, with look, eye, etc. Also as adv. (Cf. comether.)
| 1900 Daily News 10 July 6/2 It's no' the money, and it's no' the looks. It's jist the come hither in the eye. 1926 S. Lewis Mantrap xi. 132 As soon expect a calf to bear kittens as expect you not to look come-hither at every poor cuss that happens along. 1927 Amer. Speech III. 135 [In Maine] a flirtatious one [sc. girl] had the ‘comehither look’, an old English phrase meaning ‘a persuasive look’. 1930 Sayers & Eustace Docum. in Case i. 25 They keep a ‘lady-help’..a dreadful middle-aged female with a come-hither eye. 1932 Screenland Apr. 81/1 The latest of the ace Broadway actresses to succumb to Hollywood's ‘come-hither’ is Helen Gahagan. 1936 Times Lit. Suppl. 29 Feb. 183/2 Miriam Wade, whom her godfather describes as ‘a come-hither hellion’. 1944 Auden Sea & Mirror (1945) Pref. 7 Courage and come-hither eyes. 1956 R. Braddon Nancy Wake ii. 18 Grenadine would cast shamelessly come-hither looks at other gentlemen dogs in the vicinity, which enraged Picon. |
So come-hither v. and other (chiefly nonce) formations.
| 1925 M. Wiltshire Thursday's Child v. 99 There was no come-hithering in their intercourse, ever; no approach to the man-and-woman attitude of which there had once been a hint between them. 1938 W. S. Maugham Summing Up 48, I have none of that engaging come-hitherness that makes people take to one another on first acquaintance. a 1953 Dylan Thomas Under Milk Wood (1954) 82 They make, in front of their looking-glasses, haughty or come-hithering faces for the young men in the street outside. 1954 MacNeice Autumn Sequel ii. 17 Forlorn: The very word come-hithered poor John Keats. 1962 John o' London's 25 Jan. 91/2 Lidia casts come-hitherish glances at various proletarian males. 1968 N. Marsh Clutch of Constables vii. 168 The time had come for what Troy was in the habit of referring to as his unbridled comehithery. |