Etymology The noun is derived from fine toothcomb, a rebracketing of fine-tooth comb. The verb is derived from the noun.
1
Figuratively, Proscribed, Sometimes A comb with finely spaced teeth, chiefly as a metaphorical means of making a thorough search.
The police went through all his possessions with a toothcomb.
[advertisement] [A] quantity of Pencil Cases, Fans, Tooth-combs, and Nail-brushes, a Pier-glass, and various other very useful articles.1828 April 19, The Hobart Town Courier, Hobart, Tasmania, page 3, column 2:
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When the Arabs speak of things as alike in respect of good qualities, they call them 'as like as the teeth of a tooth-comb;' whereas, if they speak of similarity in bad qualities, they say 'as like as the teeth of an ass.'1850, Al Hariri of Basra, “The Makamah of Damietta. The Words of Hareth ibn-Hammam.”, in Theodore Preston, transl., Makamat: Or Rhetorical Anecdotes of Al Hariri of Basra […], London: […] W[illia]m H[oughton] Allen & Co., […]; Paris: B. Duprat, →OCLC, footnote 4, page 374:
Racks, shears and toothcombs here, sit down: / With such a shaggy, shockdog crown / Who but some rustic, clodpoll clown / Would think of venturing into town?1853 January 14, James Henry, Notes of a Twelve Years’ Voyage of Discovery in the First Six Books of the Eneis, Dresden: Meinhold and Sons, →OCLC:
Thin-skinned dunces, too, in power, hate satire, to use Sidney [i.e., Sydney] Smith's simile, for the same reason as "fleas detest tooth-combs," because they cannot escape it.1854, Octavius Freire Owen, “The Degenerate Bees”, in John Gay, The Fables of John Gay Illustrated. […], London: George Routledge & Co. […], →OCLC, footnote 2, page 228:
Ah, Sir, you needn't look. I never had nothing in my head since I was born, and I always use the toothcomb.1868 March 1, Matthew Browne, “A Working Man’s Courtship”, in Norman McLeod, editor, Good Words, volume IX, London: Strahan and Co., […], →OCLC, letter XI, page 188, column 2:
toothcomb
verb
Etymology The noun is derived from fine toothcomb, a rebracketing of fine-tooth comb. The verb is derived from the noun.
1
UK, Proscribed, Rare, Sometimes To use a toothcomb on (something).
8.15 am. Tooth-combed seven heads, had grand sport; mixed bag, measured one teaspoonful; cleanliness is next to godliness!2013, Judith Lissauer Cromwell, “Nursing”, in Florence Nightingale, Feminist, Jefferson, N.C.; London: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 234:
A number of locals, including Michael Fitzhubert and Albert Crundall, were already assisting the police in the careful toothcombing of the surrounding scrub.1967, Joan Lindsay, Picnic at Hanging Rock, London: Vintage Books, published 2013, →ISBN, page 50:
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He also had one of his employees toothcomb the journals for other mentions of 44-79731 and she was able to find several more entries, including a notation that it was picked up from the depot at Villacoublay by the 407ᵗʰ FA Gp. in October of 1944.2013 January 11, Paul Smith, “Provenance”, in Saving a Grasshopper, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, pages 68–69:
Curiously scouring, rummaging, searching … / Leaving no stone unturned. / Oddly seeking, hunting, sifting … / Shelves painstakingly toothcombed.2014, Matthew James Dicken, Peace in Words: the First World War, 1914–1918, [United Kingdom?]: Contemporary Simplicity Publishing, →ISBN:
toothcomb
noun
Etymology From tooth + comb.
1
Biology, Natural sciences, ZoologyUK, Proscribed, Sometimes A comb-like dental structure found in the lower jaws of certain primates consisting of long, flat front teeth with microscopic grooves, which are used for grooming fur.
There is no reason to doubt that the tooth comb is homologous in all the lemuriforms. The term tooth comb has recently been replaced by Martin (1972) with the concept of "tooth scraper," and he has stated that, although most living species of strepsirhines use their tooth combs for grooming, this is a secondary function.1979, Frederick S. Szalay, Eric Delson, “Suborder Strepsirhini”, in Evolutionary History of the Primates, New York, N.Y.; London: Academic Press, →ISBN, page 103, column 1:
Anthropoids are characterized by having short faces, dry noses, and lacking prominent whiskers. [...] There is no toothcomb or sublingua, and the number of teeth varies from 36 in some platyrrhines to 32 in the catarrhines.1995, Robert A. Whitney, “Taxonomy”, in B. Taylor Bennett, Christian R. Abee, Roy Henrickson, editors, Nonhuman Primates in Biomedical Research: Biology and Management, San Diego, Calif.; London: Academic Press, →ISBN, page 34, column 2:
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Members of the Prosimii, with the exception of Tarsius, have extremely specialized incisors. The lower incisors are tilted forward—they are then called procumbent—and are flattened laterally, forming a toothcomb. [...] The lower canine is frequently included in this toothcomb, and its morphology is assimilated to the shape of the procumbent incisors.2000, Friderun Ankel-Simons, “Teeth”, in Primate Anatomy: An Introduction, 2nd edition, San Diego, Calif.; London: Academic Press, →ISBN, page 206:
Must interest has centered on the first appearance of the prosimian tooth-comb or tooth-scraper [...]. The tooth-comb is formed by lower incisors and canines that are elongated and slender, and that form a procumbent unit in the anterior mandible. Upper incisors are lost, reduced, or moved to accommodate the tooth-comb.2015, Susan Cachel, “The Eocene Primate Radiation”, in Fossil Primates (Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 152:
Toothcombs have evolved independently in various mammalian lineages, including primates, scandentians, and dermopterans, but the presence of a six-toothed toothcomb composed of four lower incisors and two canines (I₁, I₂ and C₁, bilaterally) is a distinct feature of extant strepsirrhine primates [...].2020, Sergi López-Torres, Keegan R. Selig, Anne M. Burrows, Mary T. Silcox, “The Toothcomb of Karanisia clarki: Was this Species an Exudate-feeder?”, in K. A. I. Nekaris, Anne M. Burrows, editors, Evolution, Ecology and Conservation of Lorises and Pottos, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire; New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 67: