Also 4–5 kome, kombe, 6–7 combe. β. North. 6– kame, 6 kaym, 8– kaim. [f. COMB sb.1; it has taken the place of the earlier umlauted verb KEMB:—OE. cęmbian, the pa. pple. of which survives as kempt.]
1. trans. To draw a comb through the hair for the purpose of cleaning, disentangling, or arranging; to dress with a comb; to curry a horse.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VI. V. (1495), 193. The moder wasshith and kometh the chyldren.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 1003. The berdez of burlyche kyngez, Crispid and kombide.
1528. Paynel, Salerne’s Regim., B iij b. To combe the heed is very holsome.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., III. iii. 15. Combe downe his haire.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 739. To make their Hair black, by combing it with a Leaden Comb.
1752. Johnson, Rambler, No. 195, ¶ 10. He … blustered when his wig was not combed with exactness.
1830. Tennyson, Mermaid, ii. With a comb of pearl I would comb my hair.
1855. Kingsley, Heroes, II. v. They … combed out their golden hair.
absol. 1700. Congreve, Way of World, III. xii. The Gentlemen stay but to comb, Madam.
β. 1542. Borde, Dyetary, viii. (1870), 248. Kayme your heade oft.
1598. D. Fergusson, Sc. Proverbs. Kame sindle, kame sair.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., I. ii. He kaims his hair … and gaes right snug.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, xix. As crouse as a cat when the flaes are kaimed aff her.
† b. inverted construction (the comb as obj.).
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 652. A comb being made of the left horn of a Ram, and combed upon the head.
c. To comb the cat: see quots.
1816. C. James, Mil. Dict. (ed. 4), s.v. Cat, To Comb the Cat, a term used among sailors and soldiers, signifying to arrange the different cords of a cat o’ nine tails … by untangling them, and drawing the whole through the fingers.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Combing the cat, the boatswain, or other operator, running his fingers through the cat-o’-nine-tails, to separate them.
2. a. To dress (wool, flax, etc.) with a comb, so as to separate the fibers, bring them into parallel order, and separate the shorter from the longer.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. (1586), 39. The bundels [of flax] … are … combed and hacked upon an iron combe.
1715. De Foe, Fam. Instruct., II. i. (1841), I. 169. They don’t … comb wool in the Monasteries.
1835. Ure, Philos. Manuf., 215. The tow or short fibrous matter combed off from the flaxen locks.
1871. Rossetti, Poems, Staff & Scrip, vi. Her women … In silence combed the fleece.
b. House-painting. To grain with a comb.
1876. Gwilt, Archit., II. iii. 697. Graining (or combing, as it is termed, in some late specifications).
3. humorously. To beat, thrash, give a ‘dressing’ to; e.g., in phr. To comb a person’s head with a three-legged stool, etc.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., I. i. 64. Her care should be, To combe your noddle with a three-legg’d stoole.
1600. Dr. Dodypoll, V. ii., in Bullen, O. Pl., III. 159. The Marchant I perceive hath trimde you, Doctor, And comb’d you smoothlie.
1679. Hist. Jetzer, 20. He would have … combed his head with a bunch of Keys.
1858. Lytton, What will he do, IV. xvi. (D.). Till I find you a wife who will comb your head for you.
4. transf. To scrape or rake with an action like that of a comb. To comb off, to remove by such an action (cf. BRUSH v.2 5); also fig.
1654. Vilvain, Epit. Ess., 177. Strings [of a lute] … Which he combs equaly.
1850. Carlyle, Latter-d. Pamph., iii. 20. He … will … be combed off by the elm-boughs, and left sprawling in the ditch.
1866. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt, ii. There would be plenty of voters to be combed off by a Radical who offered himself with good pretensions.
1873. Browning, Red Cott. Nt.-Cap (1889), 16. From this [fiddle] did Paganini comb the fierce Electric sparks.
1877. Scribn. Mag., XV. 231/1. The oysterman begins to ‘comb’ the beds … by means of coarse-meshed dredges.
5. intr. Of a wave: ‘To roll over, as the top of a wave; or to break with a white foam’ (Webster, 1828). (App. of U.S. origin.)
1808. J. Barlow, Columb., I. 412. The stream ungovernable foams with ire, Climbs, combs tempestuous.
1862. Thornbury, Turner, I. 366. Waves spitting round piles or combing upon the shore.
1881. W. C. Russell, Sailor’s Sweeth., II. vi. 321. The waves combed over the vessel in green seas.
