combe
or comb, coomb, coombe
[koom, kohm]
- a narrow valley or deep hollow, especially one enclosed on all but one side.
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Origin of combe
coomb1
or coombe
[koom, kohm]
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for coombe
Historical Examples
At the upper end of the coombe the spring issued, and at the lower was the millpond.
Round About a Great EstateRichard Jefferies
She saw Mr. Wellwood, and heard a good account of Coombe Prior.
The Heir of RedclyffeCharlotte M. Yonge
He is delighted with Coombe, and says the verdure is something wonderful.
I long to see it all, and yet I hope he will not want to leave Coombe yet.
I ought not to have come to Coombe Bysset; at least, they all said it was silly.
combe
comb
- variant spellings of coomb
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coomb
combe, coombe or comb
- mainly Southern English a short valley or deep hollow, esp in chalk areas
- 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
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
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