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coomb1

or coombe

[koom, kohm]
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noun
  1. combe.
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coomb2

[koom]
noun
  1. coom.
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combe

or comb, coomb, coombe

[koom, kohm]
noun British.
  1. a narrow valley or deep hollow, especially one enclosed on all but one side.
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Origin of combe

Old English cumb valley < British Celtic; cf. cwm

coom

or coomb

[koom]
noun Chiefly Scot. and North England.
  1. soot; coal dust; smut.
  2. dust, especially sawdust or dust from a gristmill.
  3. grease from bearings, axles, etc.
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Origin of coom

First recorded in 1580–90; variant of culm1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for coomb

Historical Examples

  • It would be rapture, belike, in a Devon coomb, or on a Hampshire hill-top.

    The Record of Nicholas Freydon

    A. J. (Alec John) Dawson

  • This coomb is seen on the eastern side of the valley of the Ouse, in the suburbs of the town of Lewes.

  • I bethought me, however, to try the creek which drained the coomb, and see whether it might not have made itself a smoother way.

    Erewhon

    Samuel Butler

  • The entrance to a coomb, the widening mouth of a valley, is beyond, with copses on the slopes.

    The Open Air

    Richard Jefferies

  • As the coomb opened, the squire went along a hedge near but not quite to the top.

    Field and Hedgerow

    Richard Jefferies

British Dictionary definitions for coomb

coomb

combe, coombe or comb

noun
  1. mainly Southern English a short valley or deep hollow, esp in chalk areas
  2. mainly Northern English another name for cirque
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Word Origin

Old English cumb (in place names), probably of Celtic origin; compare Old French combe small valley and Welsh cwm valley

combe

comb

noun
  1. variant spellings of coomb
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coom

coomb

noun
  1. dialect, mainly Scot and Northern English waste material, such as dust from coal, grease from axles, etc
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Word Origin

C16 (meaning: soot): probably a variant of culm 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for coomb

n.

also combe, "deep hollow or valley, especially on flank of a hill," mainly surviving in place names, from Old English cumb, probably a British word, from Celtic base *kumbos (cf. Welsh cwm in same sense). Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names says, "This is usually taken to be a Celtic loan ... but there was also OE cumb 'vessel, cup, bowl,'" which was "probably used in a transferred topographical sense reinforced in western districts by cwm."

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper