come-on

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See also: come on

English

Etymology

Deverbal from come on to. First use appears c. 1897, in the publications of Edward W. Townsend. See cite below.

Pronunciation

Noun

come-on (plural come-ons)

  1. (informal) Something 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.
    • 1897, Edward W. Townsend, Near A Whole City Full, page 164:
      He's got a come-on from New Jersey that I'm to steer to the turning joint.
  2. (informal) A statement or sometimes an action reflecting sexual or romantic interest.
    • 1969, Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel, “The Boxer”, Bridge over Troubled Water, Columbia Records:
      I come looking for a job
      But I get no offers
      Just a come-on from the whores on Seventh Avenue
    • 1989, Nora Ephron, When Harry Met Sally...‎ (motion picture), spoken by Harry Burns (Billy Crystal):
      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.
    I thought he'd asked me to lunch to discuss business; I wasn't expecting a come-on.
  3. (theater, slang) A bad actor whose talents do not extend far beyond walking onto the stage.
    • 1975, George Jean Nathan, Charles Angoff, The Theatre Book of the Year, 1942-1943, page 82:
      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.

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