With night coming on, we started for home.

Question

------------------------
In this sentence, what is the meaning of 'coming' on? Does 'come on' mean 'appear' or 'start'?

Answer 1

1. With night coming on, we started for home.
------------------------
In this sentence, what is the meaning of 'coming' on? Does 'come on' mean 'appear' or 'start'?

2. With night coming, we started for home.
--------------
Can we say like this as in #2 without 'on'?

Answer 2

In this sense, 'coming on' means 'approaching.'

Yes, sentence 2 can be used fine, too.