comb out

present singular third person combs out · participle present combing out · participle past combed out · past combed out

1. transitiveliteralTo remove (something) by combing; to thoroughly comb (something); to thoroughly comb (something) so as to remove something else from it (such as tangles, dirt, or nits).

   You have to comb out the dog's coat regularly. You need to comb all the tangles out of it.

   1 more example

   I combed out the tangles in my hair. I combed them all out with that fancy comb that Ashley gave me.

2. figurativelytransitiveTo winnow; for example, to exempt (someone) from a military draft by filtering them out of the list.

   The government combed out some people from the compulsory action.

   1 more example

   We've finally combed out this list by removing the newly ineligible people from it.