See SCRATCH.
[Some other slang uses of the verb TO COME are TO COME THE ARTFUL = to essay to deceive; TO COME THE HEAVY = to affect a vastly superior position; TO COME THE UGLY = to threaten; TO COME THE NOB, or THE DON = to put on airs; TO COME THE LARDY-DARDY = to dress for the public and ‘look up to your clobber’; TO COME THE SERJEANT = to issue peremptory orders; TO COME THE SPOON = to make love; TO COME THE GYPSY = to try to defraud; TO COME THE ROTHSCHILD = to pretend to be rich; and TO COME THE TRAVIATA (prostitutes’, now obsolete) = to feign consumption, to put on ‘the Traviata cough’ (q.v.) with a view to beguiling charitable males.]
