Link Centre Dictionary

comb-out

com·bout

UK/ˈkəʊ̯mˌaʊ̯t/ US/ˈkoʊ̯mˌaʊ̯t/ uncommon informal slang
noun (2) verb (2)

noun

1.

the act of removing tangles from you hair with a comb

Synonyms
2.

the act of carefully weeding out unwanted things or people

  • “the department got a good comb-out”

verb

1.

remove unwanted elements

  • “The company weeded out the incompetent people”
  • “The new law weeds out the old inequities”
Synonyms
2.

smoothen and neaten with or as with a comb

  • “comb your hair before dinner”
  • “comb the wool”
Synonyms

Origin

Deverbal from comb out. First attested in 1915-1920 (sense 1 and sense 2). First attested in 1940 (sense 3).

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.