[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, Lett. (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.
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.
1847. Emerson, Poems (1857), 52. The punctual coming-back … of the birds.
7. esp. Coming in. a. The action of the vb. COME IN (COME v. 59); 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, trans. 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 Field, 501. Those at home … Narrow’d her goings out and comings in.
† b. A means of entrance: an entry. Obs.
a. 1483. Earl Rivers, Lett., 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. Shaks., 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.
