Comb
Pronunciation
Noun and verb- RP enPR: kÅm, IPA: /kəʊm/
- US enPR: kÅm, IPA: /koÊŠm/
- Rhymes: -əʊm
- UK IPA: /kÉ’mb/
Origin
From Middle English, from Old English camb ("comb"), from Proto-Germanic *kambaz ("comb") (compare Swedish/Dutch kam, German Kamm), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵómbÊ°os ("tooth"), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵómbÊ°- ("to pierce, gnaw through") (compare Tocharian B keme, Lithuanian žam̃bas ("sharp edge"), Old Church Slavonic зѫбъ, Albanian dhëmb, Ancient Greek γομφίος (gomphÃos, "backtooth, molar"), Sanskrit जमà¥à¤).
Full definition of comb
Noun
comb
(plural combs)- A toothed implement for grooming the hair or (formerly) for keeping it in place.
- A machine used in separating choice cotton fibers from worsted cloth fibers.
- A fleshy growth on the top of the head of some birds and reptiles; crest.
- A structure of hexagon cells made by bees for storing honey; honeycomb.
- An old English measure of corn equal to the half quarter.
- 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 4, page 207:But the comb or half quarter is very general in the Eastern counties, particularly in Norfolk.
- The top part of a gun’s stock.
- The toothed plate at the top and bottom of an escalator that prevents objects getting trapped between the moving stairs and fixed landings.
- (music) The main body of a harmonica containing the air chambers and to which the reed plates are attached.
- A former, commonly cone-shaped, used in hat manufacturing for hardening soft fibre.
- A toothed tool used for chasing screws on work in a lathe; a chaser.
- The notched scale of a wire micrometer.
- The collector of an electrical machine, usually resembling a comb.
- One of a pair of peculiar organs on the base of the abdomen in scorpions.
- The curling crest of a wave; a comber.
- A toothed plate used for creating wells in agar gels for electrophoresis.
Derived terms
Coordinate terms
Verb
- (transitive, especially of hair or fur) To groom with a toothed implement; chiefly with a comb.I need to comb my hair before we leave the house
- (transitive) To separate choice cotton fibers from worsted cloth fibers.
- (transitive) To search thoroughly as if raking over an area with a comb.Police combed the field for evidence after the assault
- (nautical, intransitive) To roll over, as the top or crest of a wave; to break with a white foam, as waves.