comb
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: kōm
ipa: /kəʊm/
enpr: kōm
ipa: /koʊm/
rhymes: -əʊm
Forms: form: combs
Etymology: 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)).
Senses: examples: text: There was also hairdressing: hairdressing, too, really was hairdressing in those times — no running a comb through it and that was that. It was curled, frizzed, waved, put in curlers overnight, waved with hot tongs;[…].
ref: 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:
glosses: A toothed implement:
A toothed implement for grooming the hair or (formerly) for keeping it in place.
glosses: A toothed implement:
A machine used in separating choice cotton fibers from worsted cloth fibers.
glosses: A toothed implement:
The toothed plate at the top and bottom of an escalator that prevents objects getting trapped between the moving stairs and fixed landings.
glosses: A toothed implement:
A toothed tool used for chasing screws on work in a lathe; a chaser.
glosses: A toothed implement:
The notched scale of a wire micrometer.
glosses: A toothed implement:
The collector of an electrical machine, usually resembling a comb.
glosses: A toothed implement:
A toothed plate used for creating wells in agar gels for electrophoresis.
topics: business
manufacturing
textiles
weaving
glosses: A toothed implement:
A toothed wooden pick used to push the weft thread tightly against the previous pass of thread to create a tight weave.
glosses: A toothed implement:
One of a pair of peculiar organs on the base of the abdomen in scorpions, with which they comb substrate.
glosses: A crest:
A fleshy growth on the top of the head of some birds and reptiles; crest.
examples: text: The head-dress of the Horse Grenadiers consists of a peculiar leather helmet with a comb of bear's skin passing over it from ear to ear and a long scarlet […]
ref: 1888, “Journal of the United Service Institution of India”, in United Service Institution of India, page 197:
text: The armet has usually a low central cabled comb with parallel flutes on either side, occasionally there are three or five combs.
ref: 1898, John Starkie Gardner, Armour in England from the Earliest Times to the Seventeenth Century, page 44:
text: The combs or elbow pieces are beautifully made, and over the right armpit is […]
ref: 1909, Albert Frederick Calvert, Madrid: An Historical Description and Handbook of the Spanish Capital, page 82:
text: Charles I. (Edinburgh Castle) The Pikeman of the time of James I. was accoutred in a morion-shaped helmet with a comb of moderate size and a flat brim, […]
ref: 2021, Charles Henry Ashdown, British and Foreign Arms & Armour, Good Press:
glosses: A crest:
A crest (of metal, leather, etc) on a piece of armor, especially on a helmet.
glosses: A crest:
The top part of a gun’s stock.
examples: text: The combs of the wild bees are found on overhanging precipices, and the only means by which they can be reached is to descend from above on narrow cane ladders just wide enough for a man’s foot, and often 300 feet to 400 feet long.
ref: 1909, John Claude White, Sikhim and Bhutan, page 9:
glosses: A structure of hexagon cells made by bees for storing honey; honeycomb.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: The main body of a harmonica containing the air chambers and to which the reed plates are attached.
glosses: A former, commonly cone-shaped, used in hat manufacturing for hardening soft fibre.
examples: text: But the comb or half quarter is very general in the Eastern counties, particularly in Norfolk.
ref: 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 4, page 207:
glosses: An old English measure of corn equal to the half quarter.
glosses: The curling crest of a wave; a comber.
topics: algebraic-geometry
geometry
mathematics
sciences
glosses: A connected and reduced curve with irreducible components consisting of a smooth subcurve (called the handle) and one or more additional irreducible components (called teeth) that each intersect the handle in a single point that is unequal to the unique point of intersection for any of the other teeth.
topics: business
mining
glosses: A kind of vertical plate in a lode.
Synonyms: sense: skin on head of birds
word: cockscomb
sense: skin on head of birds
word: crest
Coordinate terms: sense: skin on head of birds
word: caruncle
sense: skin on head of birds
word: snood
sense: skin on head of birds
word: wattle
word: orling
Derived terms: word: Afro comb
word: backcomb
word: beard comb
word: bluecomb
word: carding-comb
word: coaming
word: cock's comb test
word: comb-brush
word: comb ceramic
taxonomic: Irediparra gallinacea
word: comb-crested jacana
word: comb filter
word: combfish
taxonomic: Theridiidae spp.
word: comb-footed spider
word: combful
word: comb-honey
word: combjelly
word: comb jelly
taxonomic: Ctenophora spp.
word: comb-jelly
word: comb joint
word: combless
word: comblike
word: combmaker
word: combmaking
word: comb-out
word: combover
word: comb-over
word: comb test
word: combwise
word: comby
word: currycomb
word: curry-comb
word: curry comb
word: cut someone's comb
word: detection comb
word: Dirac comb
word: drop at comb
word: fine-tooth comb
word: fine-toothed comb
word: fine-tooth comb test
word: flaxcomb
word: fungus comb
word: horse comb
word: horse-comb
word: hot comb
taxonomic: Scandix pecten-veneris
word: lady's comb
word: mane-comb
word: microcomb
word: nit comb
word: pea comb
word: pintail comb
word: polycomb
word: pressing comb
word: razor comb
word: roof comb
word: rose comb
word: sex comb
word: toothcomb
word: tooth comb
word: tooth-comb
word: two bald men fighting over a comb
word: Venus comb
word: Venus' comb
taxonomic: Scandix pecten-veneris
word: Venus's comb
word: wax comb
word: Welsh comb
word: welsh-comb
word: woolcomb
word: Wycherley comb
Related terms: kemb
kempt
unkempt