▪ I. comb, n.1
(kəʊm)
Forms: 1 camb, comb, 3–7 combe, 4–5 coomb, komb(e, 5–7 come, 6 coame, comme, 6–7 (in comp.) com, 4– comb. Also β. (north. and chiefly Sc.) 3 camb, 4 cayme, 4–5 cambe, 4–6 kambe, 5–9 came, 6 keme, 6–9 kame, 9 kembe, kaim.
[A common Teut. n.: OE. cǫmb, camb = OS. camb, (MDu. cam(m), Du. kam), OHG. chamb, (MHG. kam(m), kamp(b), Ger. kamm, ON. kambr (Sw., Da. kam):—OTeut. *kambo-z, pre-Teutonic form *gombho-s: cf. Gr. γόµϕος ‘pin’, perh. orig. ‘tooth’, Skr. gambha-s tooth, OSlav. ząbŭ(:—gambo-) tooth.]
1. a. A strip of wood, bone, horn, metal, etc., with indentations forming a series of teeth, or with teeth inserted, along one or both edges; used for disentangling, cleaning, and arranging the hair, and for like purposes; also, in ornamental forms, worn by women to keep the hair in place.
| a 700 Epinal Gloss. 825 Pecten, camb. c 1330 Florice & Bl. (1857) 552 The thridde [maiden] scholde bringge comb and mirour To seruen him with gret honour. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame i. 136 Her combe to kembe her hed. 1463 Bury Wills (Camden Soc.) 15 My tablees of ivory with the combe and a peyre spectaclys. 1538 Starkey England i. iii. 94 Bedys, combys, gyrdylls and knyfys. 1660 Jer. Taylor Duct. Dubit. iii. ii. Rule 5 Q. 4 Clemens Alexandrinus is as severe against old men that with black lead combes put a lie upon their heads. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 113 ¶8 Her mistress had turned her out at night for breaking six teeth in a tortoise-shell comb. 1803 J. Porter Thaddeus xxx, Marshall having fixed the last pearl-comb in her mistress's beautiful hair. 1851 D. Wilson Preh. Ann. (1863) I. ii. vi. 441 Found..a rude fibula, and a comb of bronze. |
| β c 1200 Ormin 6340 Wiþþutenn cnif & shæþe, & camb. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 3351 Craftely with a cambe cho kembede myne heuede. 1561 Hollybush Hom. Apoth. 2 Anoynte therewyth a kambe and kembe thy head. 1579 in T. Thomson Invent. (1815) 282 (Jam.) Ane kais of kamys of grene velvot. a 1800 Laird o' Logie viii. (in Scott Border Minstr.), She has stown the king's redding kaim. 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 185 Growin lasses sittin..wi' cames sae trig in their golden hair. 1855 Whitby Gloss., Keeam or Kaim, a comb. |
| fig. 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton iv. 45 Faint streaks of sunshine descend like a shimmering comb upon the gloomy landscape. 1875 ― Three Feathers xv, A break appeared in the clouds, and a vast comb of gold shot shining down. |
b. An instrument for currying horses, consisting of a series of such strips of metal, with short teeth, placed parallel in a frame. Usually
horse comb,
curry-comb.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 88 Combe of curraynge, or horse combe, strigilis. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. iii. vii. (Arb.) 169 Almohaza, that is a horse combe. 1859 F. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 221 Currycomb and brush, mane-comb. |
c. humorously.
† Alman comb: see
quot. crab-tree comb: a cudgel (as applied to the head).
Obs. (
Cf. comb v. 3.)
| 1593 Bacchus Bountie in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) II. 269 Which haue had their heads smoothed well with a crabtree combe. 1653 Urquhart Rab. i. xxi, He combed his head with an Alman comb, which is the four fingers and thumb. |
d. fig. The action or process of ‘combing out’ (see
comb v.
1, 6 b).
| 1916 Even. News 8 Nov. 1/4 The comb which is being applied at the moment to the police appears once again to have begun at the wrong end. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 61 The comb, the popular newspaper term used in the War for the process of obtaining men for the Army by compulsorily thinning out from the professional classes and trades and Government Offices all physically fit. At the Front the non-combatant branches were also dealt with. |
2. transf. Applied, chiefly in technical use, to various things resembling a comb in function, structure, or appearance.
a. An instrument with two or three rows of iron teeth of different lengths, used in dressing wool for separating and arranging the fibres; a card; a similar instrument used in dressing flax. Also a toothed instrument in a carding-machine for drawing the fleece or cotton off the cards; a comber. Also a name sometimes given to the reed used in weaving.
† b. A toothed instrument used to puncture.
Obs. c. A steel tool with projecting teeth, used for cutting the thread of a screw on work in the lathe.
d. A toothed instrument used by house-painters in graining; also a tool with wire teeth used in making marbled papers.
e. ‘The notched scale of a wire-micrometer’ (Smyth
Sailor's Word-bk.).
f. ‘The window stool of a casement.
Glou.’ (Grose
Prov. Gloss. 1787).
g. Electr. A comb-like row of brass points connected with the prime conductor of an electrical machine for collecting the electricity from the plate.
| c 1290 Lives Saints (Laud MS. 1887) 99 Also man draweth with combes wolle, hire tetes heo to-drowe. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xviii. (Tollem. MS.), Yf þe rynde of þe stocke is smote with yren combes [ferreis ungulis], þan droppeþ oute þerof noble opobalsamum. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 39 Some use..to carde of the knoppes [of flax] with an iron Combe. 1607 Topsell Serpents (1653) 787 Without all Weavers combes. 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) I. 37 Lassie, lend me your braw hemp heckle, And I'll lend you my thripling kame. 1757 Dyer Fleece iii. (R.), Behold the fleece beneath the spiky comb Drop its long locks, or from the mingling card, Spread in soft flakes. 1837 Whittock Bk. Trades (1842) 483 (Wool comber) He then proceeds to place the wool on one of his combs, the steel brooches of which are triple, and are constantly heated in a charcoal pot. 1874 Knight Dict. Mech., Comb..used in combing long-stapled wool for worsted goods. The combs are used in pairs. Short-stapled wool is carded. 1876 Gwilt Archit. ii. iii. 697 Giving the painted work a coat in oil of a brownish tone..this is then scratched over by combs of bone, with blunt points. 1871 Watts Dict. Chem. (1879) VI. 551 This force, acting successively upon each portion of the rotating plate as it passes between the paper and the points of the collecting comb, will..cause positive electricity to escape from the plate into the points..In consequence of this action, the comb of the second conductor..becomes positively electrified. |
h. The lower, fixed cutting-piece of a sheep-shearing machine.
Austral. and
N.Z.| 1891 R. Wallace Rural Econ. Austral. & N.Z. xxix. 379 The cutter..moves from side to side 4,000 times per minute over the comb, which rests upon the skin of the sheep, and threads its way among the wool close to the surface of the body. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Oct. 310/1 Dust can lower the value of a [wool-]clip..besides being hard on combs and cutters. 1956 G. Bowen Wool Away! (ed. 2) vi. 73 It takes a sharp comb and a sharp cutter to cut wool off. |
3. Applied to natural formations resembling a comb,
e.g. a comb-like set of points in a tooth; the comb-like nail or claw of the middle toe of certain birds, as the goatsucker and heron, etc.
spec. † a. The part of the hand between the wrist and the fingers; the metacarpus.
Obs.| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxviii. (1495) 138 Pecten, the combe..is composyd of foure bones. |
b. Zool. (
pl.) The pair of abdominal appendages in Scorpions; analogous structures in other lower animals.
| 1834 M{supc}Murtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 257 A branchial comb, composed of numerous loose and tabular-like lamellæ. 1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. v. ii. 270 Beneath the body [in Scorpions]..are two peculiar appendages called the ‘combs’. These organs consist of a stem..and a series of teeth. 1888 Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 751 ‘Tactile combs’ situated in pairs at the bases of the tentacles [in certain Hydrozoa]. |
c. Sometimes used as an equivalent of
pecten, in the sense of the
marsupium or
processus falciformis, a pigmented vascular process which projects into the jelly-like vitreous humour in the eyes of Birds, many Reptiles, and Fishes.
d. Min. A comb-like structure found in mineral veins which are made up of plates or layers parallel to their walls: see
quots.| 1862 Dana Man. Geol. (ed. 3) 114 A comb is one of the layers in a banded vein—so called especially when its surface is more or less set with crystals. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Comb, The place, in a fissure which has been filled by successive depositions of mineral on the walls, where the two sets of layers thus deposited approach most nearly or meet, closing the fissure and exhibiting either a drusy central cavity, or an interlocking of crystals. 1885 [see comby]. |
| e. 1873–8 Mivart Elem. Anat. 275 In notched incisors, and especially in the comb-like ones of the Flying Lemur..a branch of the pulp-cavity ascends each process of the ‘comb’. |
4. a. esp. The red fleshy crest or caruncle on the head of the domestic fowl, attaining special development in the male bird; so called from its indented or serrated form. (
Cf. cock's-comb.)
| a 1000 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 215/34 Cristas, i. comas, combas on fugele. c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 39 His combe was redder þan þe fyne coral. c 1430 Henryson Mor. Fab. 17 Your beeke, your breast, your Kekil and your Came. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. (1586) 157 b, Let..your Henne be of a good colour..with a straight redde and dubble comme. Ibid. iv. 161 b, If they be right Capons, their Coames becommeth pale. 1693 Evelyn De La Quint. Compl. Gard. 50 The Heads of some sorts of Birds are Adorned with Tufts and Combs. a 1835 J. M. Wilson Tales of Borders (1857) I. 68 The kaim of chanticleer. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. v. (1873) 117 A large tuft of feathers on the head is generally accompanied by a diminished comb. |
b. The similar fleshy outgrowth round or (generally) over each eye in some gallinaceous birds.
c. transf. A crest like that of a cock (attributed to some serpents).
| c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxii. 143 Þare er also nedderes with cambez on þaire heeds, as it ware a cokk. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 358 The mane of the Lion, and the comb of the male Serpent. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. Introd., Amongst serpents..some have combs. |
d. Applied to a crest or ridge of hair.
| 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. iii, His beard—of a bright red colour..that comb of hair had been a subject of some wonder to me. 1884 A. Gregory in Fortn. Rev. Mar. 379 The Shillooks..arrange the hair in a comb or crest, high upon the head. |
5. From sense 4 come the phrases:
† to set up one's comb: to be proud or vainglorious, to hold one's head high.
to cut (rarely to cast down) the comb of: to lower the pride of, take the conceit out of, tame, ‘take down’, abash, humiliate.
| a 1536 Tindale Expos. Matt. vi. 1 If it moue thee to set vp thy combe, when thou geuest thy brother a farthyng or an halfepenny. 1545 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke (1548) Pref., After that repentaunce hath cast downe our combe. 1548 Hall Chron. an. 1 Hen. IV, fol. 12 My combe was clerely cut. 1644 Jessop Angel of Eph. 58 The one cuts the combe of Episcopall Dominion. 1822 Scott Nigel ii, All the Counts in Cumberland shall not cut my comb. 1890 F. Hall in Nation (N.Y.) L. 352/3 His reckoning it a proud thing to cut the comb of an American at all hazards. |
6. Applied to various things resembling a cock's comb in position or appearance (
= crest):
a. The crest of a helmet; the upright blade which sometimes took its place on the morion.
| c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 143/27 Crista, helmes camb. c 1050 Voc. ibid. 373/13 Crista, cambihte, camb on hætte oððe on helme. 1834 J. R. Planché Brit. Costume 30 The serrated outline occasionally forming the comb or crest of these Phrygian-looking head-pieces. 1855 tr. Labarte's Art Mid. Ages p. xxxii, Tilting bourguinot..the comb twisted. [1884 Chesh. Gloss., Comb..The raised part of a ‘helmet’ hat, such as are worn by the police; also Crest.] |
b. The projection on the top of the cock of a gun-lock. Also, the upper corner of the stock of a gun, against which the cheek is placed in firing.
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Comb..that projecting piece on the top of the cock of a gun-lock, which affords the thumb a convenient hold for drawing it back. 1881 Greener Gun 433 Measure the distance from A to heel, and from B to comb. |
c. The crest or ridge of a bank of earth, a rising ground, etc.; the ridge between cart-ruts, etc.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2564 If ðat folc hem wulde deren, ðe dikes comb hem sulde weren. 1808 Jamieson, Kaim, kame. This term in Ayrs. is used to denote the crest of a hill, or those pinnacles which resemble a cock's comb. 1813 A. Young Agric. Essex I. 163 He has levelled the ruts and combs of ten miles in one day. 1838 W. Holloway Prov. Dict., Cooms, the high ridges in ill kept roads between the ruts and the horse path. Norf. Suff. 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. iii, We breasted our nags to the rise, and were coming to the comb of it. 1876 ― Cripps v, The ruts of the lane grew more distinct as their combs of frozen mud attracted and held the driving whiteness. 1880 W. Cornw. Gloss., Comb, an upturned ridge left in ploughing. |
d. A long and narrow hill or ridge, having steep sides.
Scotl. and
North Eng., usually in form
kame,
kaim; frequent in proper names.
| 1808 Jamieson, Kaim, kame, a low ridge. Lanarksh. 1862 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club IV. 341 To examine the remarkable ridges of sand and gravel, called ‘Kaims’, at Bedshiel, at Oxenden, and in the Dune woods..These Kaims consist of elongated ridges of drift..with steep sides, and attaining sometimes a height of 50 or 60 feet. |
e. The crest or ridge of a roof.
dial.| 1824 in Z. F. Smith Hist. Kentucky (1886) 394 The roof was formed by making the end logs shorter, until a single log formed the comb of the roof. 1870 Mark Twain Innoc. Abr. xviii, From the eaves to the comb of the roof. 1888 W. Somerset Word-bk., Comb..The ridge of a roof. (Very common.) |
f. The crest of a wave. (
Cf. comb v. 5.)
| 1886 J. W. Graham Neæra II. xi, The darkling waters shook with a brisker frolic of dancing frothy combs. |
7. Naut. (See
quots.)
| 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 10 Vnder the midest of it [the beakhead] is the Combe, which is a little peece of wood with two holes in it to bring the fore tacks aboord. 1708 J. Harris Lex. Techn. s.v., Comb..is a small piece of Timber set under the lower part of the Beak-head near the middle. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Comb. |
8. The flat cake or plate consisting of a double series of hexagonal cells of wax made by bees; a honeycomb.
[This use seems to be confined to English. It does not appear to originate in any likeness of a single plate or cake with its cells to a comb for the hair, but either in the fact that the arrangement of the whole of the plates hanging parallel to each other from the roof of the hive suggests a comb with its teeth, or because each plate or ‘comb’ forms a ridge, and the whole a series of parallel ridges, like roofs of houses or ridges of hills rising beyond each other.]
| c 1300 Cursor M. 17288, Resurrection 456 (Cott.) Þai broȝt som of a rosted fische, a hony combe als-soo. 1388 Wyclif Prov. xvi. 24 Wordis wel set togidere is a coomb of hony. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §122 Take a hyue, and splente it within with thre or foure splentes, that the bees maye knytte theyr combes therto. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. iv. 79 'Tis seldome, when the Bee doth leaue her Combe In the dead Carrion. 1658 Rowland Moufet's Theat. Ins. 913 True Nectar..was wont to be made about Olympus..of Wine, Bees-combs, and sweet flowers. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VIII. 74 Every comb, newly made, is white: but it becomes yellow as it grows old. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. viii., I put the comb back into the hive. |
| β a 1300 E.E. Psalter xviii. 11 Swetter..Over honi and the kambe. 1375 Barbour Bruce xi. 368 Ane vaxcayme that beis mais. 1513 Douglas æneis i. vii. 27 In camys incluse the hwny clene. 1788 Picken Poems 126 (Jam.) A skepp..Weel cramm'd..Wi' cames. 1832–53 Whistle-Binkie (Sc. Songs) Ser. ii. 43 Your tongue was like a honey kaim. |
9. attrib. and
Comb., as
comb-bearer,
comb-box,
comb-teeth (
pl.),
comb-tray;
comb-like,
comb-shaped,
comb-wrought adjs.;
comb-back, a Windsor chair with a straight-top bar into which the back spindles fit; the back of such a chair; so
comb-backed a.;
comb-broach, one of the teeth of a wool-comb (Simmonds 1858);
comb-card, a carding comb for wool;
comb-case, a case to keep a comb in; in
quot. a 1678 applied to a hive containing only empty combs;
comb-chafer, a lamellicorn beetle (see
quot.);
comb-cleat (see
cleat n. 2 b;
cf. sense 7);
comb-cutter, a comb-maker;
† comb-feat nonce-wd. [
tr. F.
tour de peigne], ‘a dressing or thrashing’ (Davies):
cf. comb v. 3;
comb filter Electr. (see
quot. 1960);
comb-footed a., having feet furnished with structures resembling combs;
comb-foundation, a thin sheet of beeswax, made to resemble the middle wall of honeycomb, placed in a hive for bees to build their comb upon;
comb-frame, a frame placed in a hive to be filled with honeycomb;
comb-honey, honey in the comb, or with portions of the comb remaining in it;
comb-jelly, a ctenophoran jelly-fish belonging to the order Cydippidea;
comb-pecked a., pecked on the comb;
comb-post, a post to which one of the combs is attached in wool-combing;
comb-pot, a small stove in which the wool-combs are heated;
comb-saw, a saw for cutting the teeth of combs;
comb-wise adv., in manner of a comb.
| 1901 E. Singleton Furnit. of Forefathers II. v. 398 Another chair, a Windsor, of the kind called ‘*comb back’..was made in all probability by a local workman. 1935 Apollo Aug. 69/1 Windsor chairs..can be divided into two main categories. The chair with the comb-back..and the chair with the hoop-back. 1967 L. J. Braun Cat who ate Danish Modern vii. 63, I can offer you a Chippendale corner chair, a comb-back Windsor, [etc.]. |
| 1929 E. Wilson I thought of Daisy iv. 233 The principal prize was a *comb-backed rocking-chair. |
| 1887 C. F. Holder Living Lights 14 The little jelly-like creatures called ‘*comb-bearers’ or Ctenophores. |
| 1677 Lond. Gaz. No. 1190/4 A *Combox, two Powder Boxes, and four other Boxes. 1722 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 349 It was..in a comb-box. |
| 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 144 To clean and straighten the fibres of the wool, and to prepare it for the next machine, the *comb-card. |
| 1580 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 50 By the *combe-case of Diana (sware Dametas) this woman is mad. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 11 A Barbers Com⁓case. a 1678 Marvell Loyal Scot, The hive a combcase, ev'ry bee a drone. 1843 Amer. Pioneer (Cincinnati) II. 444 A small eight by ten looking-glass sloped from the wall over a large towel and combcase. |
| 1711 Phil. Trans. XXVII. 347 A pale green shining Dor, or *Comb-chaffer, from its Horns when expanded resembling a Comb. |
| 1874 Knight Dict. Mech., *Comb-cutter's saw..is usually a double saw, in which two blades are affixed to one stock, one projecting beyond the other, and the less salient acting as a spacer to start the next kerf. |
| 1653 Urquhart Rabelais ii. vi. (1694) ii. 38, I must..handsomly give thee the *Combfeat [un tour de peigne]. With this he took him by the Throat. |
| 1941 P. Mertz Television—Scanning Process 20 A sort of *comb filter having pass bands at the multiples of the line-scanning frequencies. 1960 Cooke & Markus Electronics & Nucleonics Dict. 86/2 Comb filter, a wave filter whose frequency spectrum consists of a number of equi-spaced elements resembling the teeth of a comb. |
| 1786 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 74 Your *comb-footed bird. |
| 1880 Harper's Mag. Oct. 778/1 *Comb foundation has another and far greater merit than that of saving labor for the bee: it secures a perfectly even, straight comb for each frame. 1957 Encycl. Brit. III. 306/1 Comb foundation is another important invention, consisting of sheets of pure beeswax on which are embossed the bases of the cells of the honey-comb. |
| 1889 Cent. Dict., *Comb-jelly. 1903 J. R. A. Davis Nat. Hist. Animals II. xiv. 155 A common British Comb-Jelly, Cydippe,..which is rowed through the water by eight longitudinal rows of little paddles, which suggest by their appearance the teeth of a comb. 1959 A. Hardy Fish & Fisheries iii. 53 Planktonic predators such as the comb-jellies (ctenophores) Pleurobrachia—or ‘sea gooseberries’, as the fishermen call them. |
| 1615 H. Crooke Body of Man 89 The *Comb-like sutures of the Skul. 1813 Bingley Anim. Biog. (ed. 4) III. 120 The antennæ of the Stag Beetles have a clavate extremity, divided into short, comb-like leaves. 1848 Carpenter Anim. Phys. 247 The gills form comb-like fringes. |
| 1602 Middleton Blurt ii. ii, An old *comb-pecked rascal, that was beaten out a' the cock pit..to come crowing among us! |
| 1888 Encycl. Brit. s.v. Wool, The operative..had a *comb-post..and a *comb-pot. 1782 A. M. Bailey Mech. Machines I. 112 This improvement of the Comb-pot will be the means of preserving the health..of many thousand wool-combers. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny xiii. iv. I. 385 They [leaves] grow..one close vnto another in manner of *comb-teeth. 1783 Ainsworth Lat. Dict. (Morell) ii, Vallus pectinis, the row of the comb teeth. |
| 1759 Whitfield in Phil. Trans. LI. 283 My daughter, with her *comb-tray under her arm. |
▪ II. comb, n.2 (
kuːm)
var. of
coomb1, a measure.
▪ III. comb, n.3 (
kuːm)
var. of
coomb2, valley.
▪ IV. comb obs. form of
coom, small coal.
▪ V. comb, v.1 (
kəʊm)
Also 4–5
kome,
kombe, 6–7
combe. β.
North. 6–
kame, 6
kaym, 8–
kaim.
[f. comb n.1; it has taken the place of the earlier umlauted verb kemb:—OE. cęmbian, the pa. pple. of which survives as kempt.] 1. a. trans. To draw a comb through the hair for the purpose of cleaning, disentangling, or arranging; to dress with a comb; to curry a horse.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De. P.R. vi. v. (1495) 193 The moder wasshith and kometh the chyldren. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 1003 The berdez of burlyche kyngez, Crispid and kombide. 1528 Paynel Salerne's Regim. B iij b, To combe the heed is very holsome. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. iii. 15 Combe downe his haire. 1626 Bacon Sylva §739 To make their Hair black, by combing it with a Leaden Comb. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 195 ¶10 He..blustered when his wig was not combed with exactness. 1830 Tennyson Mermaid ii, With a comb of pearl I would comb my hair. |
| absol. 1700 Congreve Way of World iii. xii, The Gentlemen stay but to comb, Madam. |
| β 1542 Borde Dyetary viii. (1870) 248 Kayme your heade oft. 1598 D. Ferguson Sc. Proverbs, Kame sindle, kame sair. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. i. ii, He kaims his hair..and gaes right snug. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xix, As crouse as a cat when the flaes are kaimed aff her. |
† b. inverted construction (the comb as
obj.).
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 652 A comb being made of the left horn of a Ram, and combed upon the head. |
c. to comb the cat: see
quots.| 1816 C. James Milit. Dict. (ed. 4) s.v. Cat, To Comb the Cat, a term used among sailors and soldiers, signifying to arrange the different cords of a cat o' nine tails..by untangling them, and drawing the whole through the fingers. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Combing the cat, the boatswain, or other operator, running his fingers through the cat-o'-nine-tails, to separate them. |
2. a. To dress (wool, flax, etc.) with a comb, so as to separate the fibres, bring them into parallel order, and separate the shorter from the longer.
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 39 The bundels [of flax]..are..combed and hacked upon an iron combe. 1715 De Foe Fam. Instruct. ii. i. (1841) I. 169 They don't..comb wool in the Monasteries. 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 215 The tow or short fibrous matter combed off from the flaxen locks. 1871 Rossetti Poems, Staff & Scrip vi, Her women..In silence combed the fleece. |
b. House-painting. To grain with a comb.
| 1876 Gwilt Archit. ii. iii. 697 Graining (or combing, as it is termed, in some late specifications). |
3. humorously. To beat, thrash, give a ‘dressing’ to;
e.g. in
phr. to comb a person's head with a three-legged stool, etc.
| 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. i. i. 64 Her care should be, To combe your noddle with a three-legg'd stoole. 1600 Dr. Dodypoll v. ii. in Bullen O. Pl. III. 159 The Marchant I perceive hath trimde you, Doctor, And comb'd you smoothlie. 1679 Hist. Jetzer 20 He would have..combed his head with a Bunch of Keys. 1858 Lytton What will he do iv. xvi. (D.), Till I find you a wife who will comb your head for you. |
4. transf. a. To scrape or rake with an action like that of a comb.
to comb off, to remove by such an action (
cf. brush v.
2 5); also
fig.| 1654 Vilvain Epit. Ess. 177 Strings [of a lute]..Which he combs equaly. 1850 Carlyle Latter-d. Pamph. iii. 20 He..will..be combed off by the elm-boughs, and left sprawling in the ditch. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt ii, There would be plenty of voters to be combed off by a Radical who offered himself with good pretensions. 1873 Browning Red Cotton Night-Cap Country (1889) 16 From this [fiddle] did Paganini comb the fierce Electric sparks. 1877 Scribn. Mag. XV. 231/1 The oysterman begins to ‘comb’ the beds..by means of coarse-meshed dredges. |
b. To search or examine minutely.
colloq. (
orig. U.S.).
| 1904 ‘O. Henry’ Cabbages & Kings iv. 80 In Coralia Señor Goodwin himself led the searching party which combed that town as carefully as a woman combs her hair. 1913 C. E. Mulford Coming of Cassidy ix. 138 Then, sweeping north, they combed the range to the northern line [for cattle]. 1927 Daily Express 23 July 10/6 Search for missing scientist. Plans for ‘combing’ a ten-mile radius. 1927 Morn. Post 19 Aug. 7 The Pacific Ocean between San Francisco and Hawaii is being combed to-day by aircraft and shipping for signs of the two 'planes. |
c. Of a ship: to turn into line with the tracks of approaching torpedoes in order to avoid being hit.
| 1942 G. Hackforth-Jones One-One-One ix. 94 With smoke pouring from the gap in the bows the ship was swung to starboard to ‘comb’ the tracks of the approaching torpedoes. 1954 P. K. Kemp Fleet Air Arm 134 The Formidable had no difficulty in avoiding them [sc. the torpedoes], as she had time at that range to alter course and comb the tracks. 1957 R. Barker Ship-busters xiii. 245 The tanker..was turning towards the track of the torpedo in an endeavour to ‘comb’ it. |
5. intr. Of a wave: ‘To roll over, as the top of a wave; or to break with a white foam’ (Webster, 1828). (
App. of
U.S. origin.)
| 1808 J. Barlow Columb. i. 412 The stream ungovernable foams with ire, Climbs, combs tempestuous. 1862 Thornbury Turner I. 366 Waves spitting round piles or combing upon the shore. 1881 W. C. Russell Sailor's Sweeth. II. vi. 321 The waves combed over the vessel in green seas. |
6. comb out.
a. trans. To disentangle or dress (the hair) with a comb; hence
fig., to separate or sort out.
| 1854 Surtees Handley Cr. lv. 390 Forthwith the dandified Horatio began to comb out his words, and string altogether his sentences. 1855 Kingsley Heroes ii. v, They..combed out their golden hair. 1888 Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men II. v. 33 It was as if he had combed out his cares. 1937 Hemingway To have & have Not iii. xxvi. 259 He took..the pins out and combed it out and it was just like gold. 1964 Sunday Express 1 Mar. 19/4 Clients on all sides were being ‘combed out’. 1966 L. Black The Bait viii. 124 Emma's hair-do was nearly finished... ‘Just finishing. Let me comb it out.’ 1966 J. S. Cox Dict. Hairdressing 38/1 Comb-out. (1) To comb through the set and dried hairdress preparatory to the final arrangement of the tresses. (2) To comb a head of hair. |
b. To clear out (men) for military service from civil employments.
| 1916 Daily Mail 1 Nov. 5/6 ‘Comb out the contractors' useless men,’ said a farmer delegate. 1918 Mrs. H. Ward War & Elizabeth vii, My two brothers are dead in France. I shall be ‘combed’ out directly. 1923 G. D. H. Cole Workshop Organiz. 28 The successive ‘combings-out’ of the munition works for further ‘man-power’ for the fighting forces. |
c. = 4 b. Also, to attack systematically.
| 1917 ‘Ian Hay’ Carrying On viii. 212 Fighting in the Redoubt itself had almost ceased, though a humorous sergeant, followed by acolytes bearing bombs, was still ‘combing out’ certain residential districts in the centre of the maze. 1943 Ward-Jackson Piece of Cake 22 To comb out, to sweep over in formation, attacking ground targets with gun-fire. Thus, ‘We're combing out the North of France this afternoon’. |
▪ VI. † comb, v.2 Obs.: see
combing ppl. a.
2