backcomb

The hairstyle produced by backcombing.

Noun

  1. The hairstyle produced by backcombing.
    • You and your fit friends anyway / I'd take them all out any day / They all got backcombs anyway - 2012, “Sex”, performed by The 1975:
  2. A decorative comb worn as an ornament and to secure a hairstyle.
    • 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...
    • 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...
    • Her father had produced a pink crêpe de Chine blouse and a backcomb massed with brilliants—both of which she refused to wear. - 1920, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, The Lost Girl, London: Martin Secker […], →OCLC:

Origin

From back + comb.

Forms

backcombs back-comb

Verb

  1. To hold the hair and comb it towards the head, thus giving it a bushier look.
    • 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 […], London: Picador, →ISBN:

    Synonyms: tease

Forms

backcombs backcombing backcombed back-comb