Origin of the Phrase 'To Comb Over' - Meaning & History

The phrase "to comb something with a fine tooth comb" is a metaphor comparing the thoroughness of a search with the tiny spaces between the teeth of a fine-toothed comb. The figurative meaning of this expression began in the 1900s, but the comb's literal sense dates as early as the 1400s. The Oxford English Dictionary's earliest examples of "fine-toothed comb" is from Thomas Dekker's 1634 play Match Me in London: "I know there is a knave in their company, the world cannot show a finer knave; it seems they have combed London with a fine combe for him." The first figurative reference is from J. Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 book In a Glass Darkly: "My memory has been going over it with a fine-toothed comb, and has hit on one or two things that I would not have observed carelessly".