combe

or comb, coomb, coombe

[koom, kohm]

noun British.

a narrow valley or deep hollow, especially one enclosed on all but one side.

Origin of combe

Old English cumb valley < British Celtic; cf. cwm

coomb

or coombe

[koom, kohm]

noun

combe.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for coombe

Historical Examples of coombe

At the upper end of the coombe the spring issued, and at the lower was the millpond.
Round About a Great Estate
Richard Jefferies
She saw Mr. Wellwood, and heard a good account of Coombe Prior.
The Heir of Redclyffe
Charlotte M. Yonge
We came to Coombe Bysset directly after the ceremony, and we are here still.
A Rainy June and Other Stories
Ouida
I could not help reminding him that he had been ever, ever so anxious to come to Coombe.
A Rainy June and Other Stories
Ouida
It is evident that this great art is not studied at Coombe Bysset.'
A Rainy June and Other Stories
Ouida

British Dictionary definitions for coombe

combe

comb

noun

variant spellings of coomb

coomb

combe, coombe or comb

noun

mainly Southern English a short valley or deep hollow, esp in chalk areas
mainly Northern English another name for cirque

Word Origin for coomb

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

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 coombe

coomb

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."