comb

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A flat tool with a row of thin teeth, used to tidy and straighten your hair.

   She ran a comb through her wet hair after the shower.

2. 2
   verb

   To tidy and straighten hair using a comb.

   Comb your hair before dinner.

3. 3
   verb

   To search an area very carefully and thoroughly.

   They combed the whole area looking for the missing child.

4. 4
   noun

   The soft red crest of flesh on top of a rooster's or hen's head.

   The rooster's bright red comb stood up on its head.

From Middle English comb, from Old English camb (“comb”), from Proto-West Germanic *kamb, from Proto-Germanic *kambaz (“comb”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵómbʰos (“tooth”), a doublet of cam. The verb is derived from the noun and displaced the older verb kemb. Cognates Compare Saterland Frisian Koum, Swedish/Dutch kam, Danish kam, Norwegian kam, German Kamm; also Tocharian B keme, Lithuanian žam̃bas (“sharp edge”), Old Church Slavonic зѫбъ (zǫbŭ), Albanian dhëmb, Ancient Greek γομφίος (gomphíos, “backtooth, molar”), Sanskrit जम्भ (jambha)).

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