tooth comb

tooth comb (plural tooth combs)

1. Alternative form of toothcomb
   • 1873 August 1, “Annual General Meeting at Maldon, 1st August, 1873”, in Transactions of the Essex Archæological Society, volume V, part IV, Colchester, Essex: […] Museum, Colchester Castle, […] “Essex & West Suffolk Gazette” Office, […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 318:

     Mr. John Oxley Parker exhibited the following miscellaneous objects found at Othona (Bradwell-juxta-Mare), [...] two pieces of Roman tooth combs, [...]

   • 1878, Ouida [pseudonym; Maria Louise Ramé], chapter XXIII, in Friendship […], volume II, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 259:

     Queer thing, isn't it, that all the pretty things that please one are all irretrievably wrong, and everything that sets one's teeth on edge, and scratches through one's brain like a metallic tooth comb, are all scientifically exquisite.

   • 1979, Frederick S. Szalay, Eric Delson, “Suborder Strepsirhini”, in Evolutionary History of the Primates, New York, N.Y., London: Academic Press, →ISBN, page 103, column 1:

     There is no reason to doubt that the tooth comb is homologous in all the lemuriforms. The term tooth comb has recently been replaced by Martin (1972) with the concept of "tooth scraper," and he has stated that, although most living species of strepsirhines use their tooth combs for grooming, this is a secondary function.

   • 1987, [John St.] Bodfan Gruffydd, “Acknowledgements”, in Tree Form, Size and Colour: A Guide to Selection, Planting and Design, London: E. & F. N. Spon, Chapman & Hall, published 1995, →ISBN, page xi:

     Jeremy Purseglove went through the tables with a tooth comb, which helped no end with ecology and naming; [...]