Chapter Comb to Commendam of C by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Comb to Commendam

Comb    A crabtree comb. A cudgel applied to the head. To smooth your hair with a crabtree comb, is to give the head a knock with a stick.
   Reynard's wonderful comb. This comb existed only in the brain of Master Fox. He said it was made of the Panthera's bone, the perfume of which was so fragrant that no one could resist following it; and the wearer of the comb was always cheerful and merry. (Reynard the Fox, chap. ii.)
   To comb one's head. To humiliate a person, or to give him a “set down.”

“I'll carry you with me to my country box, and keep you out of harm's way, till I find you a wife who will comb your head for you.”- Bulwer-Lytton: What will he do with it? iv. 16.

   To comb your noddle with a three-legged stool (Taming of the Shrew, i. 1) is to beat you about the head with a stool. Many stools, such as those used by milkmaids, are still made with three legs; and these handy weapons seem to have been used at one time pretty freely, especially by angry women.
   To cut one's comb. To take down a person's conceit. In allusion to the practice of cutting the combs of capons.
   To set up one's comb is to be cockish and vainglorious.

Comb the Cat (To). To run your fingers through the lashes of a cat-o'-nine-tails to disentangle them.

Come and take Them The reply of Leonidas, King of Sparta, to the messengers sent by Xerxes to Thermop'-ylae. Xerxes said, “Go, and tell those madmen to deliver up their arms.” Leonidas replied, “Go, and tell Xerxes to come and take them.”

Come Ather (pron. ah-ther) means, when addressed to horses, “come hither”- i.e. to the left, the side on which the teamsman walks.

Come Down a Peg Humiliated; lowered in dignity, tone, demands, etc.

“Well, he has come down a peg or two, and he don't like it.”- Haggard.

   A come down. Loss of prestige or position.

“ `Now I'm your worship's washerwoman.' The dignitary coloured, and said that `this was rather a come down.' ”- Reade.

Come Down upon One (To). To reproach, to punish severely, to make a peremptory demand.

Come Home Return to your house; to touch one's feelings or interest.

“No poetry was ever more human than Chaucer's; none ever came more generally ... home to its readers.”- Green: Short History of the English People, chap. v.

Come it Has he come it? Has he lent the money? Has he hearkened to your request? Has he come over to your side? Also, “Out with it!”

Come it Strong Lay it on thick; to exaggerate or overdo. (See Draw It Mild .)

Come Lightly Lightly come, lightly go. There is a somewhat similar Latin proverb, male parta, male dilabuntur.

Come Of What's to come of it? What's to come of him? A contracted form of become. To come of [a good stock] is to be descended from [a good family].

Come Off (To). To occur, to take place. (Anglo-Saxon, of-cuman = Latin, pro-cedo, to proceed.)    To come off with honours is to proceed to the end successfully.

Come On! A challenge to fight with fists.

Come Out Said of a young lady after she has been introduced at Court, or has entered into society as a “grown-up” person. She “comes out into society.”