comb1 (kom)

[ camb = = MD. kamme , D. kam = MHG. kam , kamp , G. kamm = Icel. kambr = Norw. kamb = Św. Dan. kam , a comb, crest, etc. (Dan. and G. also a cam: see cam1), lit. a 'toothed' implement, = Gr. γόμφος , a peg, bolt, style (orig. tooth?, > γομφίος , & grinder-tooth, grinder-tooth, the tooth of a key); cf. γαμφαί, γαμφηλαί, pl., the jaws, Skt. jambha = cam1, a doublet of comb1 .] 1. A thin strip of wood, metal, bone, ivory, tortoise-shell, etc., one or both edges of which are in dentated so as to form a series of teeth, or to which teeth have been attached; or several such strips set parallel to one another in a frame, as in a currycomb. Combs are used for arranging the hair in dre ing it; also, in a great variety of ornamental forms, for keeping women's hair in place after it is dre ed; and for various other purposes. Those worn in the hair are often carved and elaborately decorated. a =OBulg. zabu, tooth. See When you have apparelled your selfe hansomely, combe your head softly and easily with an Iuorie combe; for nothing recreateth the memorie more. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 249. And fair Ligea's golden comb , Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks, Sleeking her soft alluring locks. Milton, Comus, 1. 880. 2. Anything resembling a comb in appearance or use, especially for mechanical use. Specifically-(a) A card used in hand-carding or in a carding machine for separating and dre ing wool. (b) A toothed blade which removes the cotton from the doffer of a card ing-machine. (c) In hat - making, the former on which a fleece of fiber is taken up and hardened into a bat. E. H. Knight. (d) A toothed metal instrument used by painters in graining. (e) A tool with teeth of wire used in making marbled papers. (f) A steel tool with teeth corresponding to the thread of a screw, used for chasing screws or work which is rotated in a lathe. E. H. Knight. (g) A of sharp bra points connected with one another and with the prime conductor of an electrical machine, and placed near the revolving plate to carry off the elec tricity generated. (h) In medieval armor, the upright blade which took the place of a crest on the morions of the sixteenth century. (i) The dilated and regularly pectinated inner edge of the middle claw of sundry birds, as herons and goatsuckers. (j) A comb-like set of points or proce es of a tooth. It [the pulp-cavity of a tooth] may be divided, anteroposteriorly, as in notched incisors, and especially in the comb-like ones of the flying lemur, where a branch of the pulp-cavity ascends each proce of the comb . Mivart , Elem. Anat., p. 275. (k) The notched scale of a wire micrometer. E. H. Knight. (1) The window-stool of a casement. Grose. 3. The fleshy crest or caruncle growing, in one of several forms, on the head of the domestic fowl, and particularly developed in the male birds: so called from its serrated indentures 1117 in the typical form, or single comb, which resemble the teeth of a comb. Several characteristic variations in the form of the comb have received distinc combative Anon they pa a narrow comb wherein Were slabs of rock with figures, knights on horse, Sculptured. Tennyson, Gareth and Lynette. combacyt, n. [Irreg. combat + -cy.] Com tive names. An antlered comb is one having more or le the form of a stag's antlers, as seen in Polish and La Flèche bat. fowls, often in Houdans, etc. The leaf - comb has much the form of a strawberry-leaf, set transversely on the head. It is the preferable form of comb in Houdan fowls. The pea - comb appears as if formed of three low, bluntly ser rated combs set side by side on the head, the middle one of the three being the highest. It is the typical comb of the Brahma fowls. A rose - comb is a low comb set flat on the head, like a cap, broad in front, and tapering to a projecting spike behind, the upper part being evenly cov- ered with small projections. It is best illustrated in the Hamburg fowls, and is also found in the Wyandotte, the Sebright bantam, and other varieties. The strawberry comb resembles a half of a strawberry, generally some- what wrinkled, and set well forward on the head. It is characteristic of the Malay and the Sumatra fowls. His comb was redder than the fyn coral, And bataylld, as it were a castel wall. Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, 1. 38. Cocks have great combs and spurs; hens little or none. Bacon . 4. Anything resembling in nature, shape, or position the caruncle on a fowl's head. Specifically-(a) The similar but erectile and variable fleshy and vascular colored proce growing over each eye of some gallinaceous birds, as ptarmigan and other grouse. (b) The top or crest of a wave. 5. The pecten or marsupium in the interior of a bird's eye. [Rare.] -6. In mining, the division of the ma of a lode into parallel plates, or layers of crystalline material parallel to its walls. Some lodes have several such combs, symmetrically arranged, so that each comb on one side of the center of the ma has its counterpart on the other. Often the face of the comb turned toward the center of the lode is covered with well-developed crystals, and where the central combs meet a cavity studded with crystals is formed. With a comb of pearl I would comb my hair, And still as I comb'd I would sing and say, "Who is it loves me? who loves not me?" 2. To card, as wool; hackle, as flax.-3. To grain with a painter's comb. - Combed-out work, a kind of embroidery in which loops of wool are cut, and the threads then combed out until they are finely subdivided; they are then secured to the foundation by gum. - Combed ware, pottery or china decorated with color which has been drawn into zigzag lines or waves by a proce similar to that used in the marbling of paper. To comb one's hair the wrong way. See hairl. II. in trans. To roll over or break with a white foam, as the top of a wave. Conclude by combacy To win or lose the game. Warner, Albion's Eng., iv. 22. combat (kom'- or kum'bat), v. [First in early mod. E.; Forc'd by the tide to combat with the wind. Shak ., 3 Hen. VI., ii. 5. Our endeavours are not only to combat with doubts, but always to dispute with the devil. Sir T. Browne , Religio Medici, i. 19. After the fall of the republic, the Romans combated only for the choice of masters. IMG:content-0843.png:[graphic] Gibbon . IMG:content-0844.png:[blocks in formation] They who would combat general authority with particular opinion, must first establish themselves a reputation of understanding better than other men. Dryden, Pref. to State of Innocence. Tennyson , Epilogue. He needs must combat might with might. combat (kom'- or kum'bat), n. [After F. com bat, n., from the verb.] A fight, especially, in earlier use, between two; in general, a struggle to resist, overthrow, or conquer: contest; engagement; battle. About this Time also the Duke of Lancaster was to perform a Combat , upon a Challenge with a Prince of Bohemia. Baker , Chronicles, p. 123. My courage try by combat , if thou dar'st. Shak ., 1 Hen. VI., i. 2. The combat deepens. On, ye brave, Who rush to glory or the grave! Campbell , Hohenlinden. Single combat, a fight between two; a duel. =Syn. Con flict, Contest , etc. See battlel . combatable (kom-bat'a-bl), a. [ combat + -able ; = F. combat table , etc.] Capable of being combated, disputed, or opposed. combatant (kom'- or kumba-tant), a. and n. [ Their valours are not yet so combatant . B. Jonson , Magnet ick Lady, iii. 4. 2. In her ., same as affronté , but applied only to ferocious creatures, such as lions. Two rampant lions, face to face, are said to be combatant . My foe came quite to the verge of the fall where the river began to comb over. R. D. Black more , Lorna Doone, xxxii. Lake des Allemands was combing with the tempest and hi ing with the rain. G. W. Cable, The Century, XXXV. 92. comb2 (kōm), n. [Also written coomb ; comb (?), kump , LG. kump , also kumpen (>G. kump , kumpen ) = OHG. chumph , MHG. kumph , komph , kumpf , G. kumpf , a hollow ve el, a basin, bowl, trough, cumbus , cumpus , cimpus , a basin, bowl bats; one who engages in battle; * (cf. cumba, a bowl (a trough?), a boat, a tomb of stone: see catacomb ), Eng.] comb3, coomb2 (kōm, köm), n. [Also written combe, coom; comb , cumb , a narrow valley, prob. W.cwm (pron. köm), a hollow between two hills, a dale, a dingle, = Corn. cum , a valley, a dingle, a valley opening down- ward, Ir. cumar , a valley, bed of an estuary. Cf. OF. combe = Pr. comb a = It. dial. comb a (ML. cumba ), a valley, appar. also of Celtic ori- gin. Prob. orig. a hollow,' akin to L. cavus, hollow, Gr. κύαρ , a cavity, κοῖλος , hollow, etc.: see cavel , cage , ceil, cælum .] A more or le rounded, bowl-shaped hollow or valley inclosed on all sides but one by steep and in some cases perpendicular cliffs. The use of the word is closely limited to certain portions of southwestern England and Wales, and to a part of Ireland, especially to county Kerry, where the combs (there also called corries ) are numerous and of great size, many of them containing lakes. From those heights We dropped, at pleasure, into sylvan combs . Words worth, Excursion, iii. IMG:content-0845.png:[blocks in formation] A combatant is any person directly engaged in carrying on war, or concerned in the belligerent government, or present with its armies and a isting them; although those who are present for purposes of humanity and religion-as surgeons, nurses, and chaplains - are usually cla ed among non-combatants, unle special reasons require an opposite treatment of them. Woolsey , Introd. to Inter. Law, § 128. 2. A person who contends with another in argument or controversy. A controversy which long survived the original combat Macaulay. ants. 3. A name of the ruff, Machetes pugnax. See ruff.-4. In her., a figure drawn like a swordplayer standing upon his guard. Bailey. combater (kom'- or kum'ba-ter), n. One who combats, disputes, or contends; a combatant. [Rare.] IMG:content-0846.jpg:[blocks in formation] combatively combatively (kom'- or kum'ba-tiv-li), adv. In a combative manner; pugnaciously. combativene (kom'- or kum'ba-tiv-nes), n. The character or quality of being combative; disposition to contend or fight; pugnacity. By phrenologists the word is used to designate one of the propensities. See cut under phrenology. comb-bearer (kōm'bar"ėr), n. [A translation of NL. ctenophorum: see ctenophore.] A ctenophore; a comb-jelly; one of the Ctenophora. Closely related to idyia is pleurobrachia, one of the commonest of the comb - bearers , or Ctenophoræ, on the northern coast of the United States. Pop. Sci . Mo. , XIII. 321. comb-broach (kōm'brōch), n. A tooth of a comb with which wool is dre ed.