cut someone's comb

verb

To humiliate someone who is conceited.

Similar
cut down to sizetake down a notch
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Meanings

verbcut someone's comb (third-person singular simple present cuts someone's comb, present participle cutting someone's comb, simple past and past participle cut someone's comb)

present singular third person cuts someone's comb · participle present cutting someone's comb

  1. To humiliate someone who is conceited.

    Ha! ha! I can't help thinking of his swaggering self-importance the first time he came here; and how I cut his comb.

    1877, Timothy Shay Arthur, The Bar-rooms at Brantly; Or, The Great Hotel Speculation, page 423

    Synonyms: cut down to size, take down a notch

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo humiliate someone who is conceited.

Similar
cut down to sizetake down a notch

Origin

From the practice of cutting the combs of capons.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

cut someone's comb. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cut%20someone's%20comb

MLA

“cut someone's comb.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cut%20someone's%20comb. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cut someone's comb,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cut%20someone's%20comb.

Source: cut someone's comb on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.