Old English camb (later Anglian comb) "thin strip of toothed, stiff material" (for dressing the hair), also "fleshy crest growing on the head of the domestic fowl" (so called for its serrations), hence "crest of a hat, helmet, etc.;" also "honeycomb" (for which see honeycomb (n.)) , from Proto-Germanic *kambaz (source also of Old Saxon and Old High German camb, German Kamm, Middle Dutch cam, Dutch kam, Old Norse kambr), literally "toothed object," from PIE *gombhos, from root *gembh- "tooth, nail."
From c. 1300 as a tool for carding wool (probably earlier; Comber as a surname is from c. 1200). Comb-paper (1866) is marbled paper in which the design is produced mostly by use of a comb.
c. 1400 (implied in past participle kombid), "to dress (the hair) with a comb," a verb derived from comb (n.) and replacing the former verb, Old English cemban, which however survives in unkempt. Meaning "to card (wool)" is from 1570s. Colloquial sense "to search, examine closely" is by 1904, American English. Related: Combed; combing.
c. 1200 (as a surname), "one who cards wool," agent noun from comb (v.). Meaning "a long, curling wave" is 1840, American English, from comb (v.), in reference to a wave, "roll over with a white foam" (1808), which is perhaps from resemblance to a fowl's comb.
Old English hunigcamb; see honey (n.) + comb (n.). This use of the Germanic "comb" word seems to be peculiar to English, and the likeness is not obvious. Perhaps the image is from the comb used in wool-combing, but that extended sense of comb is not attested before Middle English. In other Germanic languages the word for it is "honey-string," "honey-cake," "bee-wafer," etc. Latin has favus, Greek melikerion.
Transferred use, in reference to various structures resembling honeycomb, is from 1520s. As a verb, from 1620s (implied in honeycombed).
1777, "a projecting part of a rotating machinery used to impart motion to another part," from Dutch cam "cog of a wheel," originally "comb," from Proto-Germanic *kambaz "comb," from PIE root *gembh- "tooth, nail." It is thus a cognate of English comb (n.). This might have combined with English camber "having a slight arch;" or the whole thing could be from camber.
It converts regular rotary motion into irregular, fast-and-slow rotary or reciprocal motion. "The original method was by cogs or teeth fixed or cut at certain points in the circumference or disc of a wheel ..." [OED]. Cam-shaft attested from 1850.
Proto-Indo-European root meaning "tooth, nail."
It forms all or part of: cam (n.1) "projecting part of a rotating machinery;" comb; gem; oakum; unkempt.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit jambha-s "tooth;" Greek gomphos "peg, bolt, nail; a molar tooth;" Albanian dhemb "tooth;" Old English camb "comb."
"having teeth like a comb," 1793," from Latin pectinatus, past participle of pectinare, from pecten "a comb," from PIE *p(e)tk- "to comb" (source also of Greek pekein, pektein "to comb, shear," Lithuanian pėšti "to pluck," Old High German fehtan "to fight;" see fight (v.)). Related: Pectination; pectineal. As a verb, "to fit together in a relation" (like the teeth of two combs), 1640s.
1840, from beach (n.) + agent noun from comb (v.). Century Dictionary (1889) defines it as "A seafaring man generally, of vagrant and drunken habits, who idles about the wharves of seaports; used most frequently in countries bordering on the Pacific ocean." The original reference (Dana, "Two Years Before the Mast") used the word to describe the life of "half of the Americans and English who are adrift along the coasts of the Pacific and its islands."
It also could mean "a long, rolling wave."
"lady's loose robe," 1835, from French peignoir, from Middle French peignouoir "loose, washable garment worn over the shoulders while combing the hair" (16c.), from peigner "to comb the hair," from Latin pectinare, from pecten (genitive pectinis) "a comb," related to pectere "to comb" (see fight (v.)). A gown put on while coming from the bath; misapplied in English to a woman's morning gown.
