dial. Forms: see the separate senses. [The senses here included appear to belong to the same original word, though this, from want of early evidence, is not quite proved. Sense 1 is found only in OE. as cumb; sense 2 is found from 14th to 17th c., in form comb, combe; its pronunciation is unfortunately unknown; sense 3 begins a. 1500, and has the forms comb, combe, coomb, pronounced (kūm). OE. cumb was prob. identical with older LG. kumb, HG. kump; cf. mod.LG. and HG. kumm a vessel, in various dialects, a round deep vessel, basin, cistern, trough, etc. (also mod.G. kumme, older prob. kumbe). Besides this mod.G. has kumpf, LG. kump, a vessel (in many senses), a measure of corn and fruit, 1/16 of a malter, i.e., an English peck nearly. The Bremen Wörterbuch identifies the two LG. forms: ‘kumm oder besser kump, tiefe schüssel’: so that we have app. an OTeut. type *kumbo-, *kummo-, with by-form *kumpo- (as in clam, clamp), with general sense of vessel, or hollowed-out receptacle.
As to the phonetic history, the vowel of OE. cumb was app. lengthened before mb as in comb, climb, clomb, with similar loss of b, and the ū sound preserved in modern Eng. instead of being diphthongized, as in OE. rúm, ME. roum, mod. ROOM. Cf. also COOP.]
† 1. (OE. cumb). A vessel, a cup; or perhaps a small measure. Obs.
791–6. in Birch, Cartul. Sax., I. 380 (No. 273). Cumb fulne liðes aloþ, and cumb fulne Welisces aloþ.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 28. Gebreow mid gryt cumb fulne ealað mid ðy wætere.
† 2. (5–7 combe, 6–7 comb.) A brewing tub or vat. Obs.
a. 1400[?]. Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.), II. 82. For castinge maulte besyddes the combe.
1559. Lanc. Wills, I. 15. The greatest mashe fatt … and the great yealynge combe.
1615. Markham, Eng. Housew. (1660), 157. To let it be too long in the Comb … will make it both corrupt, and breed Weevels … the greatest destroyers of malt.
1635. Brereton, Trav. (1844), 104. I took notice of that common brew-house … the greatest, vastest leads, boiling keeves, cisterns and combs, that ever I saw.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 319/2. A Comb, or a Brewers Working Comb, or … Yelling Comb or Tub is that Vessel into the which the Wort is put to Work with the Yeast.
[1847–78. Halliwell, Comb, a brewing-vat. Chesh.]
3. (5–6 combe, 5–9 comb, 6 come, coeme, koome, 6–7 coome, 7 coumb, 6– coomb.) A dry measure of capacity, equal to four bushels, or half a quarter.
1418. Bury Wills (Camden), 5. j comb brasij.
1465. Mann. & Househ. Exp., 179. Ffor a combe whete, iij.s. iiij.d.
1560. Proude Wyves Pater Noster, 75, in Hazl., E. P. P., IV. 155. Or dyuers cornes I haue many a come At home in my barne for to sell.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 36. Ten sacks whereof euerie one holdeth a coome [margin, A Coeme is halfe a quarter].
a. 1670. Hacket, Abp. Williams, I. (1692), 63. To whom his Majesty measured out his accumulated gifts, not by the bushel, or by the coome, but by the barn-full.
1674. Ray, S. & E. C. Words, 62. A Coomb or Coumb of Corn: Half a Quarter.
1723. Lond. Gaz., No. 6224/5. Loaded with 11 Last 18 Combs of Malt.
1762. trans. Busching’s Syst. Geog., V. 498. They also cultivate yearly … 44,000 coombs of potatoes.
1802. H. C. Robinson, Diary (1869), I. v. 106. Wheat has fallen … from 92s. to 30s. the coomb.
1883. Times, 9 March. 4/6. With respect to wheat, out of 65 towns selling by measure, only 35 used the Imperial quarter, the others selling by coombs, sacks, loads, bolls, Appleby bushels, Winchester bushels, bags, listreds, windles, and Carlisle bushels.
4. (cum, cumb, coom, kim.) A tub, cistern, as ‘a milk-cum or kim’; also a large ladle for baling out a boat; West and South of Sc. (Suppl. to Jamieson, 1887.)
5. Comb., as coomb-sack, a sack containing a coomb.
1573–80. G. Harvey, Letter-bk. (Camden), 93. Browght … to your mill in a koome or quarter sack.
c. 1600. Day, Begg. Bednell Gr., V. (1881), They are all our own, and there were a combseck full on ’em.
1891. ‘Coomb-sack I know well here in Suffolk.’ F. Hall.
