Combed

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Having had hair neatly arranged using a comb ; having examined an area or collection carefully and thoroughly
2. Hair tidied and smoothed by passing a comb through it ; having conducted a meticulous and exhaustive search of a place or group
3. Describes hair that has been made orderly with a comb ; describes having looked through every part of a place or thing in detail to find something

Etymology: "Combed" is simply the past tense and past participle of "comb" with the regular ending "-ed" added, so its history is essentially the history of "comb" itself. The verb "comb" has been in English since Old English, where it appeared as "camb," and it is related to the same Germanic root that gave us the noun for the toothed tool. The tool came first; the verb for drawing it through hair followed from it. The second meaning, searching a place thoroughly, grew naturally out of that same image. Combing hair means moving the teeth through every strand to clear out tangles and debris, and the idea of sweeping a room, a field, or a pile of papers with the same methodical passes carried over into the sense of searching every corner for something lost.

Synonyms: brushed, arranged, styled

Antonyms: tangled, disheveled, unkempt