comb

¹

[ kohm ]

noun

1. a toothed strip of plastic, hard rubber, bone, wood, or metal, used for arranging the hair, untangling it, or holding it in place.
2. a currycomb.
3. any comblike instrument, object, or formation.
4. the fleshy, more or less serrated outgrowth on the head of certain gallinaceous birds, especially the domestic fowl.
5. something resembling or suggesting this, as the crest of a wave.
6. a honeycomb, or any similar group of cells.
7. a machine for separating choice cotton or wool fibers from noil.
8. a comblike instrument for imparting a grainlike finish to a painted surface.
9. Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S. a ridge of a roof.
10. a series of springlike prongs projecting from a spine, usually of plastic, for making a loose-leaf binding.
11. a trowel having a notched edge for applying adhesives in setting tiles or the like.
12. Armor. a ridge along the top of a helmet, especially of the morion.
13. Masonry. drag ( def 34 ).
14. the upper edge of the buttstock of a rifle or shotgun.

verb (used with object)

1. to arrange or adorn (the hair) with a comb.
2. to use (something) in the manner of a comb:

   She was slowly combing her fingers through her hair.

3. to remove (anything undesirable) with or as if with a comb:

   She combed the snarls out of her hair. They combed the cowards from the group.

4. to search everywhere in:

   He combed the files for the missing letter.

5. to separate (textile fibers) with a comb.
6. to scrape with or as with a comb.
7. to sweep across; rake:

   High winds combed the seacoast.

verb (used without object)

1. to roll over or break at the crest, as a wave.

comb.

²

abbreviation for

1. combination.
2. combined.
3. combining.
4. combustion.

comb

/ kəʊm /

noun

1. a toothed device of metal, plastic, wood, etc, used for disentangling or arranging hair
2. a tool or machine that separates, cleans, and straightens wool, cotton, etc
3. the fixed cutter on a sheep-shearing machine
4. anything resembling a toothed comb in form or function
5. the fleshy deeply serrated outgrowth on the top of the heads of certain birds, esp the domestic fowl
6. anything resembling the comb of a bird
7. a currycomb
8. a honeycomb
9. the row of fused cilia in a ctenophore
10. go over with a fine-tooth comb or go over with a fine-toothed comb or go through with a fine-tooth comb or go through with a fine-toothed comb
    to examine very thoroughly

verb

1. tr to use a comb on
2. whentr, often foll by through to search or inspect with great care

   the police combed the woods

Other Words From

• comb·less adjective
• comb·less·ness noun
• un·combed adjective
• well-combed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of comb¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English comb, camb; cognate with Old High German kamb ( German Kamm ), Old Norse kambr, Greek gómphos “pin, peg,” gomphíos “molar tooth,” Slavic (Polish) ząb “tooth,” Tocharian A kam “tooth”; cam ¹, kempt

Word History and Origins

Origin of comb¹

Old English camb; related to Old Norse kambr, Old High German camb

Idioms and Phrases

see fine-tooth comb .

Example Sentences

The first is a study from the journal Current Biology found that ctenophores, a phlyum of aquatic invertebrates better known as comb jellies, can successfully fuse together after being injured.

From Salon

To test whether this comb jelly was actually two individuals who had fused together, the scientists tested individual ctenophores collected at different sites on separate dates.

From Salon

Fellow co-author Kei Jokura, a biologist at the University of Exeter, initially discovered the fused comb jelly.

From Salon

Jokura told Salon that although no other animal has demonstrated “functional fusion” in the manner seen with the comb jellies, other organisms like corals, sponges and ascidians can physically behave as if they are a single entity despite containing numerous individuals.

From Salon

“This ability is largely influenced by a lack of an allo-recognition system, which usually differentiates self from non-self and triggers immune rejection. In our experiments, nearly 90% of individuals exhibited fusion, suggesting that comb jellies might lack this allo-recognition mechanism.”

From Salon

Related Words

• examine
• forage
• inspect
• investigate
• rake
• rummage
• scour
• scrutinize
• search
• sift