Wiktionary
vb. 1 To come across; to encounter; to stumble upon; to discover or find, especially by chance or accident. 2 To befall; to affect; to happen to.
WordNet
v. find unexpectedly; "the archeologists chanced upon an old tomb"; "she struck a goldmine"; "The hikers finally struck the main path to the lake" [syn: fall upon, strike, light upon, chance upon, come across, chance on, happen upon, attain, discover]
take possession of; "She entered upon the estate of her rich relatives" [syn: enter upon, luck into]
Usage examples of "come upon".
I found the tastes of cheese and of chicken strange, as if I'd come upon them new from another world.
A dozen times a minute, Woodcarver might come upon words she didn't recognize.
I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live.
I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them.
In his two months of research, Wintergreen had come upon numbers of cases where a terminal cancer abruptly reversed itself and the patient, for whom all hope had been abandoned, had been cured.
He had insights he could share with his uncle or mother, but they would never come upon those insights by themselves.
If we understand this, then of course we have compassion for the abductees and those who come upon crop circles and believe they're supernatural, or at least of extraterrestrial manufacture.
Yea, though He gave punishment and stripes, we ought to be thankful, because He ever doth for our profit whatever He suffereth to come upon us.
It terminated after human explorers had come upon the system and the Interbeing League took charge.
O boundless goodness, which dost so exceed all understanding, let that compassion come upon me, which proceeds from thy so great abundance!
In our sloth and false security, we allowed them to come upon us unaware, but I was outside the walls and raised the cry.
Blessed be thy name, O Lord, for evermore, who hast willed this temptation and trouble to come upon me.
Having become ringer of the bells of Notre-Dame at the age of fourteen, a fresh infirmity had come upon him: the volume of sound had broken the drum of his ear, and deafness was the consequence.
Here and there you come upon a bank of sand, exceeding fine and white, and these parts are the least productive.