come together

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

1. intransitiveTo assemble; to congregate; to combine.

   After the attack, we all came together and acted as one.

   3 more examples

   What is to be done then, brethren? when ye come together, according as euerie one of you hathe a pſalme, or hathe doctrine, or hathe a tongue, or hathe reuelation, or hathe interpretacion, let all things be done vnto edifying.

   1560, [William Whittingham et al., transl.], The Bible and Holy Scriptures Conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament. […] (the Geneva Bible), Geneva: […] Rouland Hall, →OCLC, I. Corinthians XIIII:26, folio 81, verso

   At last, the news was received that the English parliament was about to render all their strifes and all their hopes nugatory by the general abrogation of every colonial charter. An assembly was summoned instantly; and, when it came together, the proprietary [William Penn], eager to return to England to defend the common rights of himself and his province, urged the perfecting of their frame of government.

   1840, George Bancroft, “The Absolute Power of Parliament”, in History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent, 2nd edition, volume III (History of the Colonization of the United States), Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, →OCLC, page 42

   It is loosely adapted by John Hodge from Irvine Welsh's novel Porno which imagined them coming together again 10 years on; this of course is 20.

   2017 January 19, Peter Bradshaw, “T2 Trainspotting review – choose a sequel that doesn’t disappoint”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 20 Jan 2017

2. figurativelyintransitiveTo harmonize socially; to come to an amicable agreement; to ally or band together.

   I told both of them they had better come together on a compromise.

   1 more example

   A. and his wife boarded and lodged in the house of B., the brother of A., and both A. and his wife assisted B. in carrying on his business. A. brought an action for the services, to which B. pleaded a set-off for board and lodging:—Held, that neither the services on the one hand, nor the board and lodging on the other, could be charged for, unless the jury were satisfied that the parties came together on the terms that they were to pay and to be paid; but that, if that were not so, no ex post facto charge could be made on either side. Davies v. Davies, 9 Car. & P. 87,—Williams J.

   1841, “Assumpsit”, in Supplement to The Jurist; Containing a Digest of All the Reported Cases Decided in the Court of Common Law, Equity, Admiralty, and in the Ecclesiastical Courts; Published during the Year 1840; and a Digest of the Statutes Passed during the Same Period, volume IV, London: S. Sweet, Chancery Lane; and V. & R. Stevens and G. S. Norton, Portugal Street and Bell Yard, Lincoln's Inn; Dublin: Hodges and Smith, College Green, →OCLC, page 9, column 1

3. figurativelyintransitiveTo begin proceeding correctly; for a complex plan with many components to work out eventually.

   I love it when a plan comes together.

   2 more examples

   I thought the reorganization would be a disaster, but you made it come together.

   I love it when a plan comes together.

   1983, The A-Team, season 1, spoken by John “Hannibal” Smith (George Peppard)

4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: to come together.
   1. intransitiveTo meet.

      Apelles, take Campaſpe, why moue ye not? Campaſpe, take Apelles, wil it not be? If you be aſhamed one of the other, by my conſent you ſhall neuer come together. But diſſemble not Campaſpe, do you loue Apelles?

      1584, [John Lyly], Campaspe. Played before the Queenes Maiestie on Newyeares Day, at Night, by Her Maiesties Children, and the Children of Paules, London: Imprinted at London for Thomas Cadman, →OCLC; republished as Campaspe: Played beefore the Queenes Maiestie on Twelfe Day at Night, by Her Maiesties Children, and the Children of Paules, London: Imprinted at London by Thomas Orwin, for William Broome, 1591, →OCLC, Act V, scene iv

   2. intransitiveTo arrive at a destination with someone after having travelled there with each other.

      We bumped into each other earlier, so we came together in a taxi.

   3. intransitiveslangTo achieve orgasm at the same time.

      Her hands stroked him while he fondled her and both of their emotions began speeding out of control. She gasped, her face a changing wave of love and tenderness and when they came together she sobbed and held on to him as if they would never be together again.

      2014 August 27, Darryl Terry, chapter 23, in A Weekend with Lana, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN