Comb-over

Photo of author

Grammarist

Comb-over is a compound word. Compounds or compound words are words that are derived from two separate words joined together. We will examine the meaning of the term comb-over, where it came from and some examples of its use in sentences.

A comb-over is a type of hairstyle in which hair is literally combed over a bald area in order to disguise the baldness. This hairstyle is rarely successful, as the viewer is nearly always able to detect the subterfuge. A comb-over is a source of humor or derision. Though the practice of the comb-over has probably been in use for as long as bald men have tried to conceal their baldness, the term appeared sometime in the twentieth century from the word comb, an instrument used to tame hair, and over meaning to cover. Comb-over is listed by the Oxford English Dictionary as a hyphenated word and  is most often seen that way, though it is sometimes seen as two words as in comb over or as one one word, as in combover. The plural form is comb-overs.

Examples

While French dignitaries clapped and swayed in their seats, Trump sat resolutely still, his blonde comb-over lifting and falling slightly in the breeze. (The Guardian)

In an interview he gave to the BBC in 2007, Stewart, currently starring in Logan, said he had a horrendous comb-over, which even changed the way he walked because he didn’t want to bring attention to his thinning hair. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Michelle Austin, 38, from Kettering, first noticed a patch of baldness when she was just 18 and desperately tried to hide it with a comb-over at first and then eventually a series of wigs. (The Daily Mail)

“You have to brush your dog’s hair and make a terrible wig-like mess with it, then use hairspray to get it into a terrible combover-looking monstrosity.” (The New York Post)