comb out meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

comb out

verbalso spelled comb-out

To remove (something) by combing; to thoroughly comb (something); to thoroughly comb (something) so as to remove something else from it (such as tangles, dirt, or nits).

I combed out the tangles in my hair. I combed them all out with that fancy comb that Ashley gave me.
You have to comb out the dog's coat regularly. You need to comb all the tangles out of it.

Figuratively To winnow; for example, to exempt (someone) from a military draft by filtering them out of the list.

The government combed out some people from the compulsory action.
We've finally combed out this list by removing the newly ineligible people from it.

Derived terms: comb-out
Related terms: comb through, filter out, sort out, straighten out

comb-out

noun

UK /ˈkəʊ̯mˌaʊ̯t/ · CA, US /ˈkoʊ̯mˌaʊ̯t/

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

An act of combing out hair.

Idiomatic, Informal The identification and removal of someone or something.

Idiomatic, Slang The act of sorting out.

McCann and I took ten men each and made a systematic comb-out of the Gardens. Every sniper we found we shot out of hand.1940, Operator 1384, McCann the Spy, quoted in Green's Dictionary of Slang, page 263:
I’d like to see a good comb-out up there, to catch out these sort of people.1943, Celia Fremlin, “Background: The Town and The Newcomers”, in Harrisson, Tom, editor, Mass-Observation War Factory: A Report, quoted in Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Vintage/Ebury, published 1987, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 16, lines 15–16:

1 more example

[…]we were stopped by ten police mobile[…]this was one of the periodic comb-outs of streets in which the police hoped to catch criminals unawares.1969 [1933], A. R. Cooper, Born to Fight, London, page 224: