Word.ws English Dictionary

come upon the town

come upon the town phrase: to become a prostitute; to turn to prostitution.

Phrase

come upon the town

  1. (UK, euphemistic, obsolete) To become a prostitute; to turn to prostitution.
    • To be sure, it would have been more for the advantage of conversation had Miss Lydia Bennet come upon the town; or, as the happiest alternative, been secluded from the world, in some distant farm house.1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter VIII, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 144
  2. (US) To receive public charity; to have one's living supported by public funding.
    • While Brimfield people have never been very rich, they have been prudent and thrifty, and there have been very few so poor as to come upon the town for support.1879, Historical Celebration of the Town of Brimfield, Hampden County, Mass, Clark W. Bryan Company, page 65
    • The daughter had children and they all three came upon the town for support, for they would not work.1912, Ada Harriet Kepley, A Farm Philosopher, Worman's Printery, page 149
  3. (US) To make one's debut in town society; to become (known as) a man or woman about town.

Synonyms of come upon the town

Questions about come upon the town

What does come upon the town mean?
Come upon the town means to become a prostitute; to turn to prostitution.
What part of speech is come upon the town?
Come upon the town is a phrase.

Words near come upon the town in the dictionary

  1. come up with snake eyes
  2. come up with the goods
  3. come up with the rations
  4. come upon
  5. come upon the parish
  6. come upon the town
  7. come what may
  8. come with
  9. come with it
  10. come with the territory
  11. come with the turf

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: come upon the town (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-come upon the town.ogg.

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