Comb vs. Brush: What's the Difference?
Comb and Brush Definitions
Comb
A thin toothed strip, as of plastic, used to smooth, arrange, or fasten the hair.
Brush
An implement typically consisting of bristles fastened into a handle, used in scrubbing, polishing, grooming, or applying a liquid.
Comb
An implement, such as one for dressing and cleansing wool or other fiber, that resembles a hair comb in shape or use.
Brush
The act of using this implement.
Comb
A currycomb.
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Brush
A sweeping stroke of the hand, as in removing something.
Comb
The fleshy crest or ridge that grows on the crown of the head of domestic fowl and other birds and is most prominent in the male.
Brush
A light touch in passing; a graze.
Comb
Something suggesting a fowl's comb in appearance or position.
Brush
An instance of contact with something undesirable or dangerous
A brush with the law.
A brush with death.
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Comb
A honeycomb.
Brush
A bushy tail
The brush of a fox.
Comb
To arrange or groom (the hair) with or as with a comb
Combed her hair with a comb.
Combed his hair with his fingers.
Brush
A sliding connection completing a circuit between a fixed and a moving conductor.
Comb
To move through or pass across with a raking action
The wind combed the wheatfields.
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Brush
A snub; a brushoff.
Comb
To straighten and separate (wool or other fibers) using a comb.
Brush
Dense vegetation consisting of shrubs or small trees.
Comb
To search thoroughly; look through
Combed the dresser drawers for a lost bracelet.
Brush
Land covered by such a growth.
Comb
To eliminate with or as with a comb
Combed the snarls out of his hair.
Brush
Cut or broken branches.
Comb
To roll and break. Used of waves.
Brush
To clean, polish, or groom with a brush
Brush one's teeth.
Brush the dog's coat.
Comb
To make a thorough search
Combed through the file for the contract.
Brush
To apply with a brush
Brushed shellac onto the wood.
Comb
A toothed implement:
Brush
To remove with a brush or with sweeping strokes
Brushed dirt from his pants.
Comb
A toothed implement for grooming the hair or (formerly) for keeping it in place.
Brush
To touch lightly in passing; graze against.
Comb
A machine used in separating choice cotton fibers from worsted cloth fibers.
Brush
To use a brush.
Comb
The toothed plate at the top and bottom of an escalator that prevents objects getting trapped between the moving stairs and fixed landings.
Brush
To make sweeping strokes with the hand.
Comb
A toothed tool used for chasing screws on work in a lathe; a chaser.
Brush
To touch something lightly in moving past.
Comb
The notched scale of a wire micrometer.
Brush
An implement consisting of multiple more or less flexible bristles or other filaments attached to a handle, used for any of various purposes including cleaning, painting, and arranging hair.
Comb
The collector of an electrical machine, usually resembling a comb.
Brush
The act of brushing something.
She gave her hair a quick brush.
Comb
A toothed plate used for creating wells in agar gels for electrophoresis.
Brush
A piece of conductive material, usually carbon, serving to maintain electrical contact between the stationary and rotating parts of a machine.
Comb
(weaving) A toothed wooden pick used to push the weft thread tightly against the previous pass of thread to create a tight weave.
Brush
A brush-like electrical discharge of sparks.
Comb
One of a pair of peculiar organs on the base of the abdomen in scorpions, with which they comb substrate.
Brush
(uncountable) Wild vegetation, generally larger than grass but smaller than trees. See shrubland.
Comb
A crest:
Brush
A short and sometimes occasional encounter or experience.
He has had brushes with communism from time to time.
Comb
A fleshy growth on the top of the head of some birds and reptiles; crest.
Brush
The furry tail of an animal, especially of a fox.
Comb
(by extension) A crest (of metal, leather, etc) on a piece of armor, especially on a helmet.
Brush
(zoology) A tuft of hair on the mandibles.
Comb
The top part of a gun’s stock.
Brush
(archaic) A short contest, or trial, of speed.
Comb
A structure of hexagon cells made by bees for storing honey; honeycomb.
Brush
(music) An instrument, resembling a brush, used to produce a soft sound from drums or cymbals.
Comb
(music) The main body of a harmonica containing the air chambers and to which the reed plates are attached.
Brush
(computer graphics) An on-screen tool for "painting" a particular colour or texture.
Comb
A former, commonly cone-shaped, used in hat manufacturing for hardening soft fibre.
Brush
(computer graphics) A set of defined design and parameters that produce drawn strokes of a certain texture and quality.
Downloading brushes for Photoshop
Comb
An old English measure of corn equal to the half quarter.
Brush
(video games) In 3D video games, a convex polyhedron, especially one that defines structure of the play area.
Comb
The curling crest of a wave; a comber.
Brush
The floorperson of a poker room, usually in a casino.
Comb
A connected and reduced curve with irreducible components consisting of a smooth subcurve (called the handle) and one or more additional irreducible components (called teeth) that each intersect the handle in a single point that is unequal to the unique point of intersection for any of the other teeth.
Brush
Evergreen boughs, especially balsam, locally cut and baled for export, usually for use in making wreaths.
Comb
A kind of vertical plate in a lode.
Brush
(transitive) To clean with a brush.
Brush your teeth.
Comb
(rare) combination {{rfex}}
Brush
(transitive) To untangle or arrange with a brush.
Brush your hair.
Comb
Alternative form of combe
Brush
(transitive) To apply with a brush.
I am brushing the paint onto the walls.
Comb
(dialectal) coomb#Etymology 1
Brush
(transitive) To remove with a sweeping motion.
'She brushes the flour off your clothes.
Comb
To groom with a toothed implement, especially a comb.
I need to comb my hair before we leave the house.
Brush
(ambitransitive) To touch with a sweeping motion, or lightly in passing.
Her scarf brushed his skin.
Comb
(transitive) To separate choice cotton fibers from worsted cloth fibers.
Brush
(intransitive) To clean one's teeth by brushing them.
Comb
(transitive) To search thoroughly as if raking over an area with a comb.
Police combed the field for evidence after the assault.
Brush
An instrument composed of bristles, or other like material, set in a suitable back or handle, as of wood, bone, or ivory, and used for various purposes, as in removing dust from clothes, laying on colors, etc. Brushes have different shapes and names according to their use; as, clothes brush, paint brush, tooth brush, etc.
Comb
To roll over, as the top or crest of a wave; to break with a white foam, as waves.
Brush
The bushy tail of a fox.
Comb
To turn a vessel parallel to (the track of) (a torpedo) so as to reduce one's size as a target.
Brush
A tuft of hair on the mandibles.
Comb
An instrument with teeth, for straightening, cleansing, and adjusting the hair, or for keeping it in place.
Brush
Branches of trees lopped off; brushwood.
Comb
An instrument for currying hairy animals, or cleansing and smoothing their coats; a currycomb.
Brush
A thicket of shrubs or small trees; the shrubs and small trees in a wood; underbrush.
Comb
A toothed instrument used for separating and cleansing wool, flax, hair, etc.
Brush
Land covered with brush{5}; in Australia, a dense growth of vegetation in good soil, including shrubs and trees, mostly small.
Comb
The naked fleshy crest or caruncle on the upper part of the bill or hood of a cock or other bird. It is usually red.
Brush
A bundle of flexible wires or thin plates of metal, used to conduct an electrical current to or from the commutator of a dynamo, electric motor, or similar apparatus.
Comb
The curling crest of a wave.
Brush
The act of brushing; as, to give one's clothes a brush; a rubbing or grazing with a quick motion; a light touch; as, we got a brush from the wheel as it passed.
[As leaves] have with one winter's brushFell from their boughts.
Comb
The waxen framework forming the walls of the cells in which bees store their honey, eggs, etc.; honeycomb.
When the bee doth leave her comb.
Brush
A skirmish; a slight encounter; a shock or collision; as, to have a brush with an enemy; a brush with the law.
Let grow thy sinews till their knots be strong,And tempt not yet the brushes of the war.
Comb
The thumbpiece of the hammer of a gunlock, by which it may be cocked.
Brush
A short contest, or trial, of speed.
Let us enjoy a brush across the country.
Comb
That unwatered portion of a valley which forms its continuation beyond and above the most elevated spring that issues into it.
A gradual rise the shelving combeDisplayed.
Brush
To apply a brush to, according to its particular use; to rub, smooth, clean, paint, etc., with a brush.
Comb
A dry measure. See Coomb.
Brush
To touch in passing, or to pass lightly over, as with a brush.
Some spread their sailes, some with strong oars sweepThe waters smooth, and brush the buxom wave.
Brushed with the kiss of rustling wings.
Comb
To disentangle, cleanse, or adjust, with a comb; to lay smooth and straight with, or as with, a comb; as, to comb hair or wool. See under Combing.
Comb down his hair; look, look! it stands upright.
Brush
To remove or gather by brushing, or by an act like that of brushing, or by passing lightly over, as wind; - commonly with off.
As wicked dew as e'er my mother brushedWith raven's feather from unwholesome fen.
And from the boughts brush off the evil dew.
You have commissioned me to paint your shop, and I have done my best to brush you up like your neighbors.
Comb
To roll over, as the top or crest of a wave; to break with a white foam, as waves.
Brush
To move nimbly in haste; to move so lightly as scarcely to be perceived; as, to brush by.
Snatching his hat, he brushed off like the wind.
Comb
A flat device with narrow pointed teeth on one edge; disentangles or arranges hair
Brush
A dense growth of bushes
Comb
The fleshy red crest on the head of the domestic fowl and other gallinaceous birds
Brush
An implement that has hairs or bristles firmly set into a handle
Comb
A fleshy and deeply serrated outgrowth atop the heads of certain birds especially domestic fowl
Brush
Momentary contact
Comb
Any of several tools for straightening fibers
Brush
Conducts current between rotating and stationary parts of a generator or motor
Comb
Ciliated comb-like swimming plate of a ctenophore
Brush
A minor short-term fight
Comb
The act of drawing a comb through hair;
His hair needed a comb
Brush
The act of brushing your teeth;
The dentist recommended two brushes a day
Comb
Straighten with a comb;
Comb your hair
Comb the wool
Brush
The act of brushing your hair;
He gave his hair a quick brush
Comb
Search thoroughly;
They combed the area for the missing child
Brush
Contact with something dangerous or undesirable;
I had a brush with danger on my way to work
He tried to avoid any brushes with the police
Comb
Smoothen and neaten with or as with a comb;
Comb your hair before dinner
Comb the wool
Brush
Rub with a brush, or as if with a brush;
Johnson brushed the hairs from his jacket
Brush
Touch lightly and briefly;
He brushed the wall lightly
Brush
Clean with a brush;
She brushed the suit before hanging it back into the closet
Brush
Sweep across or over;
Her long skirt brushed the floor
A gasp swept cross the audience
Brush
Remove with or as if with a brush;
Brush away the crumbs
Brush the dust from the jacket
Brush aside the objections
Brush
Cover by brushing;
Brush the bread with melted butter
