come-on

plural come-ons

1. informalSomething intended to attract, as in an advertisement.

   The free offers are just come-ons to get you in the store so the sales staff can work on you.

   1 more example

   He's got a come-on from New Jersey that I'm to steer to the turning joint.

   1897, Edward W. Townsend, Near A Whole City Full, page 164

2. informalA statement or sometimes an action reflecting sexual or romantic interest.

   I thought he'd asked me to lunch to discuss business; I wasn't expecting a come-on.

   2 more examples

   I come looking for a job But I get no offers Just a come-on from the whores on Seventh Avenue

   1969, Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel, “The Boxer”, Bridge over Troubled Water, Columbia Records

   What I'm saying is - and this is not a come-on in any way, shape or form - is that men and women can't be friends because the sex part always gets in the way.

   1989, Nora Ephron, When Harry Met Sally... (motion picture), spoken by Harry Burns (Billy Crystal)

3. slangentertainmentA bad actor whose talents do not extend far beyond walking onto the stage.

   1 more example

   When the public no longer rushed to the box-office to buy such synthetic exaltations of the spirit, pitchmen like Jerome K. Jerome and the aforesaid Kennedy got out their theopathic apparatus and had at the trade with elixirs in which actors, their faces chalked into a pallor exceeding Nicky Arnstein's, were programmed as A Stranger, A Wayfarer, or Manson and, by conducting themselves for the major portion of two hours like overly verbose and objectionable pallbearers, peculiarly persuaded the come-ons that they were replicas of Christ and that the rest of the cast, a bunch of low-lifes, were converted to the faith by them.

   1975, George Jean Nathan, Charles Angoff, The Theatre Book of the Year, 1942-1943, page 82