Dictionary

come down with en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. To develop symptoms or signs of (an illness).
   • Almost 100 people came down with norovirus aboard a Royal Caribbean ship amid a 13-day voyage, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported earlier this week. 2025 October 2, Claire Fahy, “Norovirus Outbreak Sickens Nearly 100 on Royal Caribbean Cruise”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
   • Near-synonyms: catch, contract, acquire
   • It is further reported that when tremendously large doses of virus are given intravenously, from 250 to 500 c.c., the animals come down with the disease. 1917 April 21, George Draper, “Acute Poliomyelitis: Early Diagnosis and Serum Therapy”, in The Journal of the American Medical Association, volume 68, number 16, Chicago, Ill., →DOI, page 1153:
   • With a scratchy throat and a cough, it feels like I'm coming down with a cold.
2. To lay down (money) in payment; to pay.
   • So I diddled around, then came down with the money, and we were finally ready to roll. 2011, Charley Rosen, The Wizard of Odds:

Forms

Coordinates

shell out · come up with · fork over · put down · fork out

Deriveds

come down with the dust

Relateds

go down with

Synonyms

acquire · catch · contract

Translations (12)

it prendersi un malanno (to show symptoms of an illness) · hi उतरना (to show symptoms of an illness) · hu ágynak esik (to show symptoms of an illness) · es contraer (to show symptoms of an illness) · fr attraper (to show symptoms of an illness) · fr tomber malade (to show symptoms of an illness) · ru слечь (to show symptoms of an illness) · ru свали́ться (to show symptoms of an illness) · lv sasirgt (to show symptoms of an illness) · fr contracter (to show symptoms of an illness) · hu megbetegszik (to show symptoms of an illness) · es ponerse malo de (to show symptoms of an illness)