"come knocking" meaning in English

See come knocking in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: comes knocking [present, singular, third-person], coming knocking [participle, present], came knocking [past], come knocking [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|come<,,came,come> knocking}} come knocking (third-person singular simple present comes knocking, present participle coming knocking, simple past came knocking, past participle come knocking)
  1. (idiomatic) To arrive unanticipated and uninvited. Tags: idiomatic
    Sense id: en-come_knocking-en-verb-cysPxLdb Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "comes knocking",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "coming knocking",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "came knocking",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "come knocking",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "come<,,came,come> knocking"
      },
      "expansion": "come knocking (third-person singular simple present comes knocking, present participle coming knocking, simple past came knocking, past participle come knocking)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1907, The Little Sister:",
          "text": "So I put up bar and shutter\nWhen the wind goes howling by.\nFor I know when it comes knocking\nThat some evil thing is nigh.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, Jerry Newcombe, Kirsti Newcombe, A Way of Escape: Experiencing God's Victory Over Temptation, page 218:",
          "text": "So, putting all these thoughts together, what do we do when temptation comes knocking?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023, BEANO Where’s Gnasher?, page 2:",
          "text": "Dennis Menace Dennis is always in trouble — and it's not always his fault. If trouble comes knocking, it comes knocking for Dennis.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To arrive unanticipated and uninvited."
      ],
      "id": "en-come_knocking-en-verb-cysPxLdb",
      "links": [
        [
          "arrive",
          "arrive"
        ],
        [
          "unanticipated",
          "unanticipated"
        ],
        [
          "uninvited",
          "uninvited"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To arrive unanticipated and uninvited."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "come knocking"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "comes knocking",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "coming knocking",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "came knocking",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "come knocking",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "come<,,came,come> knocking"
      },
      "expansion": "come knocking (third-person singular simple present comes knocking, present participle coming knocking, simple past came knocking, past participle come knocking)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1907, The Little Sister:",
          "text": "So I put up bar and shutter\nWhen the wind goes howling by.\nFor I know when it comes knocking\nThat some evil thing is nigh.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, Jerry Newcombe, Kirsti Newcombe, A Way of Escape: Experiencing God's Victory Over Temptation, page 218:",
          "text": "So, putting all these thoughts together, what do we do when temptation comes knocking?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023, BEANO Where’s Gnasher?, page 2:",
          "text": "Dennis Menace Dennis is always in trouble — and it's not always his fault. If trouble comes knocking, it comes knocking for Dennis.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To arrive unanticipated and uninvited."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "arrive",
          "arrive"
        ],
        [
          "unanticipated",
          "unanticipated"
        ],
        [
          "uninvited",
          "uninvited"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To arrive unanticipated and uninvited."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "come knocking"
}

Download raw JSONL data for come knocking meaning in English (1.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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