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.

Multiword verbs with comb

• comb out Phrasal verb A2

  to remove tangles or unwanted material by passing a comb through hair

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Comb is an Old English word that may have had the underlying sense of tooth. Its related verb became established around 1400, replacing the older verb kemb. Forms of kemb survive in kempt and especially unkempt. Unlike the b added to the spelling of limb in the 16th century, comb had already ended in b in Old English.

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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External links

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