I. ˈkōm noun
( plural combs -mz)
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English camb; akin to Old High German kamb, Old Norse kambr comb, Greek gomphos tooth, peg, Sanskrit jambha molar, fang
1.
a. : an instrument consisting of a thin strip (as of plastic, metal, or bone) with a row of teeth on one or both edges or sides that is used for adjusting, cleaning, or confining the hair or for adornment
b. : any of several toothed devices used in handling or ordering textile fibers:
(1) : a toothed instrument for separating, ordering, and cleansing fibers (as of wool, flax, or hair) ; also : the machine of which it is the basic part
(2) : the serrated vibratory device used to strip fiber from the doffer of a carding machine
(3) : a reed of a loom and especially of a hand loom
c. : a toothed instrument for currying hairy animals or cleansing and smoothing their coats : currycomb
d. : the collector of an electrostatic machine
e.
(1) : a toothed instrument used to form patterns on a painted surface that typically resemble grained wood or marbled paper
(2) : a pattern so formed
f. : a tool having teeth similar to those on a saw and used in finishing stone
2. : the fleshy crest or caruncle on the head of the domestic fowl and certain other gallinaceous birds usually best developed in the male — see pea comb , rose comb , single comb , strawberry comb
3. : something resembling or suggesting the comb of a cock: as
a. : the crest of a helmet ; especially : the upright blade on a morion
b. dialect : the crest or ridge of a mountain or hill
c. : the ridge of a roof
d. : a ridge or crest of hair
e. : the upper edge of the buttstock of a shoulder firearm against which the firer's cheek rests during firing
f. : the curling crest of a wave
g. : a hook on which bacon slabs are hung for smoking
4. : a structure resembling a comb (sense 1a): as
a. : the pecten of a scorpion
b. : the pecten of a bird's eye
c. : one of the ciliated swimming plates of a ctenophore
d. : strigil 2
e. : ctenidium 2
5.
a. : honeycomb ; also : one of the somewhat similar masses of cells built by social wasps
b. : an aggregate of crystals resembling a honeycomb that have grown outward from the walls of a vein or cavity so that their closely set points or ends project
II. verb
( combed -md ; combed “ ; combing -miŋ ; combs -mz)
Etymology: Middle English comben, from comb, n.
transitive verb
1. : to draw a comb through : disentangle with or as if with a comb:
a. : to lay straight : dress , arrange
comb one's hair
b. : to cleanse, disentangle, and collect together (animal or vegetable fibers) by the use of a comb preparatory to spinning so that only the longer fibers are collected, the short staple being combed away — compare card I 1
c. : to dress or finish (stone) with a comb
2. : thrash , beat
3.
a. : rake
comb the grass
b. : to afflict or assault as if by raking: as
(1) : to pass over with violent force
the city was combed by rain and high winds
(2) : flatten , erode
huge waves combing down the dunes
(3) : to shell systematically
combing the enemy's position with our guns
4.
a. : to remove or eliminate with or as if with a comb
comb out snarls
comb out head lice
comb subversives out of the organization
: treat with or as if with a comb in order to remove anything undesirable — usually used with out
comb out a staff in search of dishonest persons
b. : separate , sort
combing out of the tangle the right elements
comb army recruits from industries
5.
a. : to search or examine systematically and thoroughly omitting or ignoring no part or detail
comb all the evidence
comb the whole trial record for reasons for appeal
comb the woodland for traces of the lost children
police combing the city for the killer
b. : to seek out and collect from — used especially of one that gathers flotsam cast up by the sea
added to his income by combing the little beach beyond the point
6. : to use in the manner of a comb
combing his fingers through his long red beard
intransitive verb
1. of a wave or its crest : to roll over : break into foam
2. : to flow or come over like a combing wave
Synonyms: see seek
III. ˈküm, ˈkōm
variant of combe
IV. abbreviation
1. combination; combined; combining
2. combustion