From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcome on phrasal verb1 come on! spoken a) HURRYused to tell someone to hurry Come on, we’ll be late! b) used to encourage someone to do something Come on, you can do it! Come on, cheer up! c) UNTRUEused to tell someone that you know that what they have just said was not true or right Oh come on, don’t lie! d) ANGRYused to make someone angry enough to want to fight you Come on, then, hit me!2 come on in/over/up etc spoken used to tell someone to come in, over, up etc, usually in a friendly way Come on in – I’ve made some coffee.3 if a light or machine comes on, it starts working A dog started barking and lights came on in the house.4 if an illness comes on, you start to be ill with it I can feel a headache coming on.5 if a television or radio programme comes on, it starts Just at that moment, the news came on. 6 if rain or snow comes on, it starts The rain came on just before lunchtime.7 to come onto a stage or sports field He scored only two minutes after he’d come on.8 PROGRESSto improve or make progress The children are really coming on now. Your English is coming on really well.9 come on somebody/somethingDISCOVERCHANCE/BY CHANCE to find or discover someone or something by chance We came on a group of students having a picnic.10 come on strong informalATTRACTED TO somebody to make it very clear to someone that you think they are sexually attractive → come→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
come on• Oh come on! We don't have all day!• Come on, you two, we're going to be late.come on!• Come on! We're already late!• Here boy, come on Pecos, good dog.come on in/over/up etc• Sure, I said, come on over.• It sounded good, it felt good to say, it made lights come on in my mouth.• A light suddenly comes on in the closet, revealing the hidden police officers Loach and Escobar.• Street lights were starting to come on in the distance, crimson slivers slowly brightening to orange.• Suddenly, all the lights came on in the hospital and they eventually opened a side-door and let her in.• Lights came on in the Mootwalk shops as one by one they began to open.• It sometimes comes on in the open air.• Automatic lights had come on in various parts of the house.come on strong• The Republicans were coming on strong.• But the defense came on strong in the playoffs.• He'd come on strong towards the end of his round to pull up within a shot of us.come-onˈcome-on noun [countable usually singular] informal ATTRACTED TO somebodysomething that someone does deliberately to make someone else sexually interested in them Rick’s the kind of guy who thinks every smile is a come-on.give somebody the come-on (=do something to show you are sexually interested in someone) → come on to somebody/something at come onExamples from the Corpus
come-on• But his basic belief was so widespread that gay men themselves sometimes used it as a come-on.• The free stationery is just a come-on; we want to get kids writing to penpals around the world.• It's a come-on for their other-paid-for-services.• Instead there was true obscenity, the obscenity of deceitfulness and come-on lies.• Four years ago, he was a bit tentative in his come-on.• Will women respond to the Republicans' simplistic come-on?• Hoping against hope that she was giving him the come-on at last, he readily accepted.• Others want to keep him in action where he is, a historical fact and tourist come-on.• But it's the undertow of precocious sexuality, the child-woman come-on, that's more worrying.give somebody the come-on• Hoping against hope that she was giving him the come-on at last, he readily accepted. 