Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - comb

~1 n 1 a flat piece of plastic, metal etc with a row of thin teeth on one side, used for making your hair tidy 2 a small flat piece of plastic, metal etc with a row of thin teeth on one side, used for keeping your hair back or for decoration 3 a process in which you make your hair tidy or straight using a comb  (Your hair needs a good comb.) 4 the red piece of flesh that grows on top of a male chicken's head 5 a honeycomb  (- see also fine-tooth comb) ~2 v 1 to make hair or fur tidy or straight using a comb  (Your hair's a mess! Go comb it.) 2 to search a place thoroughly  (comb sth for)  (The police combed the woods for the missing boy.) comb sb/sth out phr v 1 to make hair or fur straight and smooth using a comb  (It took over an hour to comb out all the tangles in Buster's fur.) 2 informal to get rid of unnecessary people from within a group 3 + from to find and collect specific pieces of information from a larger amount of information - comb out n comb through phr v to search through a lot of objects or information in order to find a specific thing or piece of information  (Marta combed through a box of old photographs, looking for the baby portrait.)