kempt

comparative more kempt · superlative most kempt

1. archaicOf a person's beard or hair: combed.

   Faint and in pain he propped his weary head, / And his kempt beard adown his bosom spread.

   1867, Virgil, “Book X”, in John Benson Rose, transl., The Æneis of Virgil, London: Dorrell & Son, […], →OCLC, page 307, lines 909–910

   1 more example

   For a moment Boshy thought his senses were playing up with him, for there in the door entrance stood the identical girl—the same turkey-egg complexion, stubby nose, and her red hair only changed from unkempt to kempt.

   1907, Barbara Baynton, “Human Toll: Chapter 6”, in Sally Krimmer, Alan Lawson, editors, Barbara Baynton: Bush Studies, Other Stories, Human Toll, Verse Essays and Letters (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St. Lucia, Brisbane, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, →ISBN, page 189

   Antonyms: unkempt

2. archaichobbiesOf wool or other fibres: combed.

   [W]hen maidens vvere to be vvedded, there attended upon them a diſtaffe, dreſſed and trimmed vvith kembed vvooll, as alſo a ſpindle and yearne upon it.

   1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book VIII.] Divers Kinds of Wooll and Clothes.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 228

   Antonyms: unkempt

3. figurativelyhumoroususuallyNeat and tidy.

   He could see her now: middle-aged, gray hair, well kempt, European-looking.

   1982, Michael Blodgett, “Meadowbrook”, in Captain Blood, New York, N.Y.: Harmony Books, →ISBN, part III, page 288

   1 more example

   The street paving was badly worn, but looked marvelously smooth and kempt to Winterbourne, accustomed to roads worn into deep ruts and reft with shell-holes.

   1929 July, Richard Aldington, chapter XII, in Death of a Hero […], New York, N.Y.: Covici-Friede, published October 1929, →OCLC, part 3 (Adagio), page 359

   Synonyms: well-groomed, all Sir Garnet, Bristol fashion and shipshape, in order, neat, neat and tidy, neat as a new pin, neat as a pin · Antonyms: ill-kempt, unkempt, chaotic, cluttered, disorderly, messy, ree-raw, riotous

1. participlepastsimple past and past participle of kemb.

   Synonyms: kembed