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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

backcomb en · NOUN

Etymology

From back + comb.

Meanings

  1. The hairstyle produced by backcombing.
    • You and your fit friends anyway / I'd take them all out any day / They all got backcombs anyway 2012, “Sex”, performed by The 1975:
  2. (dated) A decorative comb worn as an ornament and to secure a hairstyle.
    • There was a part of a bottle of liquor on the table—the furniture of the hall was disarranged—a pair of slippers, two small combs, and a backcomb were lying near an easy chair. 1876, Lex, Remarkable Criminal Trials in Bengal:
    • A backcomb comprising a pair of oppositely disposed members of sheet material each provided with teeth along one margin, a pivot pin securing the members at one end in overlapping relation. 1912, The Canadian Patent Office Record and Register of Copyrights and Trade Marks, volume 39, issues 1-6, page 252:
    • Her father had produced a pink crêpe de Chine blouse and a backcomb massed with brilliants—both of which she refused to wear. 1920, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, The Lost Girl, London: Martin Secker […], →OCLC:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
backcombs Number=Plur lexicographic
back-comb alternative lexicographic

backcomb en · VERB

Etymology

From back + comb.

Meanings

  1. (transitive) To hold the hair and comb it towards the head, thus giving it a bushier look.
    • Her dark-blonde hair, worn long at Oxford, had been cut and backcombed, Diana-style, and quivered when she shook her head. 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 5, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
back-comb alternative lexicographic
backcombs Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
backcombing Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
backcombed Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
backcombed Tense=Past lexicographic

Synonyms

tease

Translations (5)

pl tapirować (to hold the hair and comb it towards the head) · de toupieren (to hold the hair and comb it towards the head) · el κρεπάρω (to hold the hair and comb it towards the head) · hu tupíroz (to hold the hair and comb it towards the head) · el ξαίνω (to hold the hair and comb it towards the head)