I. comb 1 /kəʊm $ koʊm/ BrE AmE noun
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: camb ]
1 . [countable] a flat piece of plastic, metal etc with a row of thin teeth on one side, used for making your hair tidy ⇨ brush
2 . [countable] a small flat piece of plastic, metal etc with a row of thin teeth on one side, used for keeping your hair back or for decoration
3 . [singular] if you give your hair a comb, you make it tidy using a comb:
Your hair needs a good comb.
4 . [countable] the red piece of flesh that grows on top of a male chicken’s head
5 . [countable] a ↑ honeycomb
⇨ ↑ fine-tooth comb
II. comb 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
1 . to make hair look tidy using a comb:
Melanie ran upstairs to comb her hair.
2 . to search a place thoroughly
comb something for somebody/something
Police are still combing the woods for the missing boy.
comb something ↔ out phrasal verb
to use a comb to make untidy hair look smooth and tidy:
She sat combing out her hair in front of the kitchen mirror.
comb through something phrasal verb
to search through a lot of objects or information in order to find a specific thing or piece of information:
We spent weeks combing through huge piles of old documents.