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third-person singular simple present backcombs, present participle backcombing, simple past and past participle backcombed
To hold hair and comb it towards the head, thus giving it a bushier look. quotations examples
Her dark-blonde hair, worn long at Oxford, had been cut and backcombed, Diana-style, and quivered when she shook her head.
2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 5, in The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing
plural backcombs
The hairstyle produced by backcombing. examples
(dated) A decorative comb worn as an ornament and to secure a hairstyle. quotations examples
There was a part of a bottle of liquor on the table—the furniture of the hall was disarranged—a pair of slippers, two small combs, and a backcomb were lying near an easy chair.
1876, Lex, Remarkable Criminal Trials in Bengal
A backcomb comprising a pair of oppositely disposed members of sheet material each provided with teeth along one margin, a pivot pin securing the members at one end in overlapping relation.
1912, The Canadian Patent Office Record and Register of Copyrights and Trade Marks, volume 39, issues 1-6, page 252
Her father had produced a pink crêpe de Chine blouse and a backcomb massed with brilliants—both of which she refused to wear.
1920, David Herbert Lawrence, The Lost Girl