come home en · VERB
Etymology
The sport usage was popularised by the 1996 song "Three Lions", which contains the phrase "it's coming home", referring to the UEFA Euro 1996 championship hosted in England, the birthplace of association football.
Meanings
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To return to one's house, or to any place of origin.
Lion hunts are highly choreographed, rarefied affairs; you’re looking at $70,000 before you even load your rifle. Then there are the game fees for the bait you’ll need − a zebra, warthog and a kudu, say − and for the lion itself. All in, you’re looking at a six-figure outlay with no guarantee that you’ll come home with a lion skin for a rug. (Taxidermy not included.)
2026 April 21, Cal Flyn, “On the trail with the hunters who believe shooting big game can save Africa’s wildlife”, in The Guardian:
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To touch a person's interests or feelings closely; to be fully understood or realised.
It was only when I heard the police sirens that the seriousness of what I had done came home to me.
It finally came home to me that I was wrong.
- (of an anchor) To drag or slip through the ground.
- (of a sport) To achieve success (typically by winning an international competition) in the country in which the sport was invented.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| came home | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| comes home | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| come home | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| coming home | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic |