toothcomb
/ˈtuθˌkoʊm/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
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.
British usage; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "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.'"
- "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?"
- "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."
- "Ah, Sir, you needn't look. I never had nothing in my head since I was born, and I always use the toothcomb."
Etymology
The noun is derived from fine toothcomb, a rebracketing of fine-tooth comb. The verb is derived from the noun.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈtuθˌkoʊm/
- British English: /ˈtuːθkəʊm/
Usage
- British usage
- Transitive verb