comb
UK/kəʊm//koʊm/
comb noun: a toothed implement for grooming the hair or (formerly) for keeping it in place. Also the abbreviation of combination.
Noun
comb (plural combs)
- A toothed implement for grooming the hair or (formerly) for keeping it in place.
- 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;[…].1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN
- A machine used in separating choice cotton fibers from worsted cloth fibers.
- The toothed plate at the top and bottom of an escalator that prevents objects getting trapped between the moving stairs and fixed landings.
- 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.
- A toothed plate used for creating wells in agar gels for electrophoresis.
- A toothed wooden pick used to push the weft thread tightly against the previous pass of thread to create a tight weave.
- One of a pair of peculiar organs on the base of the abdomen in scorpions, with which they comb substrate.
- A ctene.
- Ctenophores are mostly planktonic creatures about the size and shape of a kiwi fruit or grape, bearing rows of beating "combs."2001, Julian Sprung, Invertebrates: A Quick Reference Guide, page 35
- A fleshy growth on the top of the head of some birds and reptiles; crest.
- 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 colour, changing to green at the base.1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 170
- A crest (of metal, leather, etc) on a piece of armor, especially on a helmet.
- 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 […]1888, “Journal of the United Service Institution of India”, in United Service Institution of India, page 197
- The armet has usually a low central cabled comb with parallel flutes on either side, occasionally there are three or five combs.1898, John Starkie Gardner, Armour in England from the Earliest Times to the Seventeenth Century, page 44
Show 8 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
- The top part of a gun’s stock.
- A structure of hexagon cells made by bees for storing honey; honeycomb.
- 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.1909, John Claude White, Sikhim and Bhutan, page 9
- 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.
- An old English measure of corn equal to the half quarter.
- But the comb or half quarter is very general in the Eastern counties, particularly in Norfolk.1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 4, page 207
- The curling crest of a wave; a comber.
- 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.
- A kind of vertical plate in a lode.
Verb
comb (third-person singular simple present combs, present participle combing, simple past and past participle combed)
- Especially of hair or fur, to groom with a toothed implement, especially a comb.
- I like the way you comb your hair / And I like those stylish clothes you wear / It's just the little things you do / That show how much you really care1982, Debarge, “I Like It (DeBarge song)”, in All This Love (album)
- 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.
- The search party, consisting of family and friends, combed the woods and the survey site thoroughly.2026 August 23, Aniket Chaughule, “Christopher Thompkins Vanished From a Georgia Survey Site in 2002. His Coworkers Were Only 50 Feet Away”, in Skip Boring, archived from the original on 24 Aug 2026
- 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.2010, Jim Crossley, Bismarck: The Epic Chase
- Sixteen torpedo bombers divided their attention between the two ships. Repulse combed the torpedo wakes and knocked down two of the attackers.2013, Steve Backer, British Battlecruisers of the Second World War, page 10
Also used as
comb is also the abbreviation of combination.
comb is also the alternative form of combe.
comb is also the alternative form of coomb.
comb meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
comb in Hindi
- toothed implement for grooming the hair
- कंघी kaṅghī
comb in Tamil
- toothed implement for grooming the hair
- சீப்பு cīppu
- to groom the hair with a toothed implement
- வாரு vāru
comb in Marathi
- toothed implement for grooming the hair
- कंगवा kaṅgvā, फणी phaṇī
comb in Urdu
- toothed implement for grooming the hair
- کَن٘گھی kaṅghī
More languagesFewer languages
- comb in Bengali
- চিরুনি ciruni, কাঁকই kãkoi, ফনী phoni
- comb in Telugu
- దువ్వెన duvvena, దువ్వు duvvu, దువ్వుకొను duvvukonu
- comb in Malayalam
- ചീപ്പ് cīppŭ
- comb in Kannada
- ಬಾಚಣಿಗೆ bācaṇige
- comb in Punjabi
- ਕੰਘਾ kaṅghā
- comb in Gujarati
- કાંસકી kā̃skī, કાંસકો kā̃sko
- comb in Odia
- ପାନିଆ pāniā
- comb in Sanskrit
- कंकत kaṃkata
- comb in Sinhala
- පනාව panāwa
- comb in Assamese
- ফণি phoni, কাঁকৈ kãkoi, ফণীওৱা phoniüa, কঁকিওৱা kõkiüa
- comb in Nepali
- काइँयो kāĩyo
- comb in Pashto
- ږمنځ ģmënźl, ګنز
- comb in Tagalog
- suklay, peyneta, suyurin
- comb in Arabic
- مُشْط mušṭ, مِشْط mišṭ, مِمْشَط mimšaṭ, مشط mišṭ
- comb in Malay
- sikat, jambul
- comb in Indonesian
- sisir
- comb in Persian
- شانِه šâne, دَفْتین daftin
- comb in Thai
- หวี wǐi, หงอน ngɔ̌ɔn
- comb in Vietnamese
- lược, mào, mồng, chải
- comb in Myanmar
- ဘီး bhi:, ဖြီး hpri:
Examples of comb in a sentence
- The combs or elbow pieces are beautifully made, and over the right armpit is […]1909, Albert Frederick Calvert, Madrid: An Historical Description and Handbook of the Spanish Capital, page 82:
- 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, […]2021, Charles Henry Ashdown, British and Foreign Arms & Armour, Good Press:
Synonyms of comb
Forms of comb
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | combs |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | combs |
| present participle | combing |
| past participle | combed |
| past | combed |
Origin of comb
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)).
From combination.
Words formed from comb
- Afro comb
- beard comb
- bluecomb
- carding-comb
- coaming
- cock's comb test
- comb-brush
- comb ceramic
- comb-crested jacana
- comb filter
- combfish
- comb-footed spider
- combful
- comb-honey
- combjelly
- comb jelly
- comb-jelly
- comb joint
- combless
- comblike
- combmaker
- combmaking
- comb-out
- combover
- comb-over
- comb test
- combwise
- comby
- currycomb
- curry-comb
- curry comb
- cut someone's comb
- detection comb
- Dirac comb
- drop at comb
- fine-tooth comb
- fine-toothed comb
- fine-tooth comb test
- flaxcomb
- fungus comb
- horse comb
- horse-comb
- hot comb
- lady's comb
- mane-comb
- microcomb
- nit comb
- pea comb
- pintail comb
- polycomb
- pressing comb
- razor comb
- roof comb
- rose comb
- sex comb
- toothcomb
- tooth comb
- tooth-comb
- two bald men fighting over a comb
- Venus comb
Phrases with comb
Words that rhyme with comb
Questions about comb
- What does comb mean?
- Comb means a toothed implement for grooming the hair or (formerly) for keeping it in place.
- What is comb in Hindi?
- Comb in Hindi is कंघी (kaṅghī). See Comb meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use comb in a sentence?
- The combs or elbow pieces are beautifully made, and over the right armpit is […]
- What part of speech is comb?
- Comb can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce comb?
- Comb is pronounced /kəʊm/ (UK).
- What is the plural of comb?
- The plural of comb is combs.
Words near comb in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: comb (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-comb.ogg.
Cite this entry: “comb.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/comb. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.