coomb

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kuːm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːm

Etymology 1

From Middle English *comb, *cumb (> Scots cumb, coom (“tub, cistern”)), from Old English cumb (“a vessel; a liquid measure”), from Proto-Germanic *kumbaz (“bowl, vessel”). Compare German Kumpf (“bowl”).

Alternatively, perhaps from Latin cumba (“boat, tomb of stone”), from Ancient Greek κύμβη (kúmbē, “hollow of a vessel, cup, boat”).

Noun

coomb (plural coombs)

1. An old English measure of corn (e.g., wheat), equal to half a quarter or 4 bushels.
   • 1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 1, page 168:

     It was equal to half a quarter, i.e. is identical with the coomb of the eastern counties.

   • 1790 July 13, Thomas Jefferson, U.S. Secretary of State, Plan for establishing uniformity in the Coinage, Weights, and Measures of the United States," report communicated to the House of Representatives:

     Two kilderkins, or strikes, make a measure called a barrel, liquid, and a coomb, dry; this last term being ancient and little used.

Alternative forms

• comb

Etymology 2

From Old English cumb, from Proto-Brythonic *komm (compare Welsh cwm), from Proto-Celtic *kumbā.

Noun

coomb (plural coombs)

1. Alternative spelling of combe
   • 1896, Thomas Hardy, chapter 4, in The Mayor of Casterbridge:

     From the centre of each side of this tree-bound square ran avenues east, west, and south into the wide expanse of corn-land and coomb to the distance of a mile or so.

Anagrams

• combo