comb
comb
/kəʊm/
1 countable a flat piece of plastic or metal with a row of thin teeth along one side, used for making your hair neat; a smaller version of this worn by women in their hair to hold it in place or as a decoration He just had time to wash his face and drag a comb through his hair before going out.
She ran a comb through her tangled hair.
Collocations
verb + comb
phrases
a brush and comb
Your hair needs a good comb.
Your hair could do with a comb!
Collocations
verb + comb
could do with
give something
3 countable, uncountable (also honeycomb) a structure of cells with six sides, made by bees for holding their honey and their eggs 4 countable the soft red part on the top of the head of a male chicken Idioms
comb
/kəʊm/
1 transitive comb something to pull a comb through your hair in order to make it neat Don't forget to comb your hair!
Her hair was neatly combed back.
comb something I combed the shops looking for something to wear.
comb something for somebody/something The police combed the area for clues.
comb through something (for somebody/something) They combed through the files for evidence of fraud.
3 transitive comb something (specialist) to make wool, cotton, etc. clean and straight using a special comb so that it can be used to make cloth Phrasal Verbs
Word Origin
Old English camb, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kam and German Kamm.
e.g.
I'm sure tens of thousands of prospectors have combed through this place and took every damned bit of it. 何万人もの金掘人夫が一粒残らずさらっていっちまったんだ (/yupeco/『ゴールデンカムイ』1話)