come what may

alternative come what come may

1. idiomaticnot comparableIn spite of anything that might happen; whatever may occur.

   He swore that, come what may, he'd never let her out of his sight again.

   5 more examples

   Come what come may, / Time, and the Houre, runs through the rougheſt Day.

   c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 133

   If you vant a more polished sort o' feller, vell and good, have him; but vages or no vages, notice or no notice, board or no board, lodgin' or no lodgin', Sam Veller, as you took from the old inn in the Borough, sticks by you, come what may.

   1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 56, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC

   [W]e are here of a set purpose and we will go forward with it, come what may.

   1905–1906, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 21, in Sir Nigel, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], published January 1906, →OCLC

   Before I first saw you / Each day was just another day / Night the lonely interlude / Just came, then blew away / You know girl / Everything was come what may until you fell in my life

   1981, Quincy Jones, “Ai No Corrida”, in The Dude

   Still, now the prime minister remains "on message," reiterating that the election will be held in January, come what may.

   2004 September 23, Tony Karon, “Allawi Rides to Bush's Rescue”, in Time

   Synonyms: anyway, no matter what, regardless