comb

Study(12)

/kəʊm/

noun 8verb 5

Collocations

(noun.) used for making your hair tidy

VERB + COMB

use

PHRASES

a brush and comb, drag/run a comb through sth

He grabbed a brush and comb before heading out to the party.

(noun.) act of combing

VERB + COMB

could do with, need

After the windy day, her tangled hair needed a comb before the photo shoot.

give sth

After the long flight, Maria gave her tangled hair a quick comb before the meeting.

Definitions

noun

A toothed implement:

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;[…].

A toothed implement:

verb

To groom with a toothed implement, especially a comb.

I need to comb my hair before we leave the house.

To separate choice cotton fibers from worsted cloth fibers.

To search thoroughly as if raking over an area with a comb.

Police combed the field for evidence after the assault.

To roll over, as the top or crest of a wave; to break with a white foam, as waves.

To turn a vessel parallel to (the track of) (a torpedo) so as to reduce one's size as a target.

The aircraft split up so as to attack from different, preselected bearings, thus confusing the gunners and making it difficult for the ship to comb torpedo tracks.

Sixteen torpedo bombers divided their attention between the two ships. Repulse combed the torpedo wakes and knocked down two of the attackers.

noun

Abbreviation of combination.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

noun — the act of drawing a comb through hair

combing

noun — the fleshy red crest on the head of the domestic fowl and ot

verb — smoothen and neaten with or as with a comb

disentangle

verb — search thoroughly

ransack

Antonyms

Idioms & Phrases

comb through

To examine scrupulously.

Near-synonym: pore over

Welsh comb

One's finger, used as an improvised method to straighten one's hair.

Example Bank

Wiktionary

Ctenophores are mostly planktonic creatures about the size and shape of a kiwi fruit or grape, bearing rows of beating "combs."

Wiktionary

I also obtained here a specimen of the rare green jungle-fowl (Gallus furcatus), whose back and neck are beautifully scaled with bronzy feathers, and whose smooth-edged oval comb is of a violet purple

Wiktionary

I need to comb my hair before we leave the house.

Wiktionary

Police combed the field for evidence after the assault.

Wiktionary

The aircraft split up so as to attack from different, preselected bearings, thus confusing the gunners and making it difficult for the ship to comb torpedo tracks.

Wiktionary

Usage Notes

i Register

In some senses, comb is marked as rare. Watch for register when choosing this word.

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