/ kəʊm; NAmE koʊm/ noun , verb
■ noun
1.
[ C ] a flat piece of plastic or metal with a row of thin teeth along one side, used for making your hair neat; a smaller version of this worn by women in their hair to hold it in place or as a decoration
2.
[ C , usually sing. ] the act of using a comb on your hair :
Your hair needs a good comb.
3.
[ C , U ] = honeycomb
4.
[ C ] the soft, red piece of flesh on the head of a male chicken
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IDIOMS
see fine-tooth comb adjective
■ verb
1.
[ vn ] to pull a comb through your hair in order to make it neat :
Don't forget to comb your hair!
Her hair was neatly combed back.
2.
comb (through) sth (for sb/sth) to search sth carefully in order to find sb/sth
SYN scour :
[ vn ]
The police combed the area for clues.
I combed the shops looking for something to wear.
[ v ]
They combed through the files for evidence of fraud.
3.
[ vn ] ( technical ) to make wool, cotton, etc. clean and straight using a special comb so that it can be used to make cloth
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PHRASAL VERBS
- comb sth out
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WORD ORIGIN
Old English camb , of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kam and German Kamm .