Word.ws English Dictionary

come to time

come to time verb: to come forward in order to resume the contest when the interval allowed for rest is over and time is called.

Verb

come to time (third-person singular simple present comes to time, present participle coming to time, simple past came to time, past participle come to time)

  1. (dated) To come forward in order to resume the contest when the interval allowed for rest is over and time is called.
    • We fights for ten minutes or so, and then I hits him a round blow on the ear, and he falls down on the hard, and couldn't come to time. No wonder, poor fellow ! for he had gone to eternity.1834, Frederick Marryat, Jacob Faithful
  2. (idiomatic) To maintain an appointment; to meet expectations.

Forms of come to time

third-person singular presentcomes to time
present participlecoming to time
pastcame to time
past participlecome to time

Origin of come to time

The expression was used in prizefighting (boxing).

Questions about come to time

What does come to time mean?
Come to time means to come forward in order to resume the contest when the interval allowed for rest is over and time is called.
What part of speech is come to time?
Come to time is a verb.
What is the past tense of come to time?
The past tense of come to time is came to time.

Words near come to time in the dictionary

  1. come to terms with
  2. come to that
  3. come to the party
  4. come to the scratch
  5. come to think of it
  6. come to time
  7. come together
  8. come too
  9. come true
  10. come under
  11. come undone

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: come to time (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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