combine

present singular third person combines · participle present combining · participle past combined · past combined

1. transitiveTo bring (two or more things or activities) together; to unite.

   I'm combining business and pleasure on this trip.

   2 more examples

   Combine the milk and the hot water in a large bowl.

   Conditions were horrendous aboard most British naval vessels at the time. Scurvy and other diseases ran rampant, killing more seamen each year than all other causes combined, including combat.

   2012 March 28, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 87

2. transitiveTo have two or more things or properties that function together.

   Joe combines the intelligence of a rock with the honesty of a politician.

3. intransitiveTo come together; to unite.

   two substances that easily combine

   2 more examples

   You with your foes combine, / And seem your own destruction to design.

   1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, (please specify the page number)

   So sweet did harp and voice combine.

   1805, Walter Scott, “(please specify the page)”, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A Poem, London: […] [James Ballantyne] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], and A[rchibald] Constable and Co., […], →OCLC

4. card gamesIn the game of casino, to play a card which will take two or more cards whose aggregate number of pips equals those of the card played.
5. obsoleteTo bind; to hold by a moral tie.

   I am combined by a sacred vow.

   c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]

plural combines

1. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of combine harvester.

   We can't finish harvesting because our combine is stuck in the mud.

   1 more example

   When those combine wheels stops turnin' And the hard days work is done Theres a pub around the corner It's the place we 'ave our fun

   1976, The Wurzels, I Am A Cider Drinker

2. A combination.
   1. Especially, a joint enterprise of whatever legal form for a purpose of business or in any way promoting the interests of the participants, sometimes with monopolistic or fraudulent intentions.

      The telecom companies were accused of having formed an illegal combine in order to hike up the network charges.

      1 more example

      [In the decades before the First World War] In the USA and Germany in particular, huge manufacturing combines were being created and were developing a very powerful economic and increasingly political presence at home and on international markets.

      2023, David Brandon, The General Strike 1926: A New History, Pen and Sword Books Ltd, →ISBN, page 48

   2. An industrial conglomeration in a socialist country, particularly in the former Soviet bloc.

      His grandmother worked in the stamping plant of the sheet and tin combine.

      Synonyms: kombinat

   3. artAn artwork falling between painting and sculpture, having objects embedded into a painted surface.
3. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of combine car, a type of railway car that combines passenger and freight functions.
4. American footballA test match in which applicants play in the hope of earning a position on a professional football team.

   If you purchased this book chances are that you are planning on participating in a football combine or pro-day test.

   2008, Scott Shetler, Optimal Performance Techniques for the Football Combine, page 5

   2 more examples

   In 2008, a study was published that examined the ability of the NFL combine to predict football playing performance in the NFL (Kuzmits and Adams, 2008).

   2020, Jay R. Hoffman, The Science of American Football

   At the combine, Reagor compared himself to the 49ers’ Deebo Samuel or Chiefs’ Tyreek Hill — whom he said he watched “every day”

   2020 April 23, Ken Belson, Ben Shpigel, “Full Round 1 2020 N.F.L. Picks and Analysis”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 Apr 2020

1. colloquialLondon Underground