Combings

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. The act of gathering or collecting loose hairs or fibers from a source like an animal or fabric
2. Referring to the process of sorting through and removing unwanted material from fibers or hair strands
3. A term for the resulting mass of hairs, fibers, or debris that has been collected after such a procedure

Etymology: "Combings" is the plural of "combing," which is the noun form of "comb" (the verb, meaning to draw a toothed instrument through hair). "Comb" comes from Old English "camb," which goes back to a Germanic root shared with German "Kamm" and the Latin "gummi"-free cognates are not needed here: the key fact is that the same Germanic root gave us the tooth-edged tool and the act of smoothing hair with it. The noun "combing" in the sense of hair pulled out by the comb developed from the verb, following the common English pattern of turning a verbal action into a thing produced by that action, as with "sweepings" or "shavings." The plural form, "combings," is used for the loose strands gathered from the teeth after brushing.

Synonyms: combing