come upon

come upon (third-person singular simple present comes upon, present participle coming upon, simple past came upon, past participle come upon)

1. To discover or find, especially by chance or accident.

   Synonyms: come across, encounter, run across, stumble upon

   We came upon the skeleton while we were hiking.

   • 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 5, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, 1914 June, →OCLC:

     Kala sometimes talked with the older females about her young hopeful, but none of them could understand how a child could be so slow and backward in learning to care for itself. Why, it could not even find food alone, and more than twelve moons had passed since Kala had come upon it.

2. To befall; to affect; to happen to.

   I pray no harm will come upon you.

• come upon the parish
• come upon the town

• conopeum