comb
UK /kəʊm/ · US /koʊm/ noun, verb
- noun A toothed implement for grooming the hair or (formerly) for keeping it in place.
- noun A machine used in separating choice cotton fibers from worsted cloth fibers.
- noun The toothed plate at the top and bottom of an escalator that prevents objects getting trapped between the moving stairs and fixed landings.
- noun A toothed tool used for chasing screws on work in a lathe; a chaser.
- noun The notched scale of a wire micrometer.
- noun The collector of an electrical machine, usually resembling a comb.
- noun A toothed plate used for creating wells in agar gels for electrophoresis.
- noun (weaving) A toothed wooden pick used to push the weft thread tightly against the previous pass of thread to create a tight weave.
- verb (transitive) Especially of hair or fur, to groom with a toothed implement, especially a comb.
- verb (transitive) To separate choice cotton fibers from worsted cloth fibers.
- verb (transitive) To search thoroughly as if raking over an area with a comb. “Police combed the field for evidence after the assault.”
- verb (nautical, intransitive) To roll over, as the top or crest of a wave; to break with a white foam, as waves.
- verb (naval, transitive) To turn a vessel parallel to (the track of) (a torpedo) so as to reduce one's size as a target.
Synonyms
cockscomb crest combo coxcomb combing ransack comb out disentangle
Etymology
From Middle English comb, from Old English camb (“comb”), from Proto-West Germanic *kamb, from Proto-Germanic *kambaz (“comb”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵómbʰos (“tooth”), a doublet of cam. The verb is derived from the noun and displaced the older verb kemb.
Compare Saterland Frisian Koum, Swedish/Dutch kam, Danish kam, Norwegian kam, German Kamm; also Tocharian B keme, Lithuanian žam̃bas (“sharp edge”), Old Church Slavonic зѫбъ (zǫbŭ), Albanian dhëmb, Ancient Greek γομφίος (gomphíos, “backtooth, molar”), Sanskrit जम्भ (jambha)).
From combination.
Webster’s 1913
- noun An instrument with teeth, for straightening, cleansing, and adjusting the hair, or for keeping it in place.
- noun An instrument for currying hairy animals, or cleansing and smoothing their coats; a currycomb.
- verb To disentangle, cleanse, or adjust, with a comb; to lay smooth and straight with, or as with, a comb; as, to comb hair or wool. See under Combing.
- verb To roll over, as the top or crest of a wave; to break with a white foam, as waves.
Etymology [AS.. camb; akin to Sw., Dan., & D. kam, Icel. kambr, G. kamm, Gr. jambha tooth.]
Etymology [See Comb, n., 5.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “comb”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details