come calling

verb

To make one's presence felt (due to large numbers, strength, qualities etc).

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Meanings

verbcome calling (third-person singular simple present comes calling, present participle coming calling, simple past came calling, past participle come calling)

present singular third person comes calling · participle present coming calling · past came calling

  1. colloquialfigurativelyTo make one's presence felt (due to large numbers, strength, qualities etc).

    The stage came calling when a friend suggested he try out for a production of South Pacific. He got a part in the sailors' chorus and so began his acting career.

    2020 November 1, Alan Young, “Sean Connery obituary: From delivering milk in Fountainbridge to the definitive James Bond”, in The Scotsman
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see come, calling.

    The cook Sicon and slave Getas reprise the earlier scene where they came calling to ask for materials and were sent packing.

    2014, Martin Revermann, The Cambridge Companion to Greek Comedy, page 219
Cite this entry
APA

come calling. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/come%20calling

MLA

“come calling.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/come%20calling. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “come calling,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/come%20calling.

Source: come calling on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.