a toothed strip of plastic, hard rubber, bone, wood, or metal, used for arranging the hair, untangling it, or holding it in place.
a currycomb.
any comblike instrument, object, or formation.
the fleshy, more or less serrated outgrowth on the head of certain gallinaceous birds, especially the domestic fowl.
something resembling or suggesting this, as the crest of a wave.
a honeycomb, or any similar group of cells.
a machine for separating choice cotton or wool fibers from noil.
a comblike instrument for imparting a grainlike finish to a painted surface.
Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S. a ridge of a roof.
a series of springlike prongs projecting from a spine, usually of plastic, for making a loose-leaf binding.
a trowel having a notched edge for applying adhesives in setting tiles or the like.
Armor. a ridge along the top of a helmet, especially of the morion.
Masonry. drag.
the upper edge of the buttstock of a rifle or shotgun.
to arrange or adorn (the hair) with a comb.
to use (something) in the manner of a comb.
She was slowly combing her fingers through her hair.
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.
to search everywhere in.
He combed the files for the missing letter.
to separate (textile fibers) with a comb.
to scrape with or as with a comb.
to sweep across; rake.
High winds combed the seacoast.
combination.
combined.
combining.
combustion.
a toothed device of metal, plastic, wood, etc, used for disentangling or arranging hair
a tool or machine that separates, cleans, and straightens wool, cotton, etc
the fixed cutter on a sheep-shearing machine
anything resembling a toothed comb in form or function
the fleshy deeply serrated outgrowth on the top of the heads of certain birds, esp the domestic fowl
anything resembling the comb of a bird
a currycomb
a honeycomb
the row of fused cilia in a ctenophore
to examine very thoroughly
(tr) to use a comb on
to search or inspect with great care
the police combed the woods
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”; see cam 1, kempt
A comb is a tool for smoothing your hair. You might pull a comb through your curls before you run out the door in the morning to catch your bus. A comb is made of plastic or wood, with separate teeth that untangle strands of hair. When you use one, you comb: "I grabbed the comb so I could comb my cat before the photo shoot." Another way to comb is to rummage or search, the way you comb through your bag to find your car keys. The Old English root is camb, "crest" or "honeycomb," from a Germanic root that means "toothed object."
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
