combine - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

PIE word
*dwóh₁

From Middle English combynyn, from Middle French combiner, from Late Latin combīnāre (“unite, yoke together”), from Latin con- (“together”) + bīnī (“two by two”).[1]

combine (third-person singular simple present combines, present participle combining, simple past and past participle combined)

  1. (transitive) To bring (two or more things or activities) together; to unite.
    Combine the milk and the hot water in a large bowl.
    I'm combining business and pleasure on this trip.
    • 2012 March, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 87:
      Conditions were horrendous aboard most British naval vessels at the time. Scurvy and other diseases ran rampant, killing more seamen each year than all other causes combined, including combat.
  2. (transitive) To have two or more things or properties that function together.
    Joe combines the intelligence of a rock with the honesty of a politician.
  3. (intransitive) To come together; to unite.
    two substances that easily combine
  4. (card games) In the game of casino, to play a card which will take two or more cards whose aggregate number of pips equals those of the card played.
  5. (obsolete) To bind; to hold by a moral tie.

bring two or more things or activities together — see also unite

combine (plural combines)

  1. Ellipsis of combine harvester.
    We can't finish harvesting because our combine is stuck in the mud.
    • 1976, The Wurzels, I Am A Cider Drinker:
      When those combine wheels stops turnin'
      And the hard days work is done
      Theres a pub around the corner
      It's the place we 'ave our fun
  2. A combination.
    1. Especially, a joint enterprise of whatever legal form for a purpose of business or in any way promoting the interests of the participants, sometimes with monopolistic or fraudulent intentions.
      Hyponyms: corporation, conglomerate, cartel
      The telecom companies were accused of having formed an illegal combine in order to hike up the network charges.
      • 2023, David Brandon, The General Strike 1926: A New History, Pen and Sword Books Ltd, →ISBN, page 48:
        [In the decades before the First World War] In the USA and Germany in particular, huge manufacturing combines were being created and were developing a very powerful economic and increasingly political presence at home and on international markets.
    2. (art) An artwork falling between painting and sculpture, having objects embedded into a painted surface.
  3. Ellipsis of combine car, a type of railway car that combines passenger and freight functions.
  4. (American football) A test match in which applicants play in the hope of earning a position on a professional football team.
    • 2008, Scott Shetler, Optimal Performance Techniques for the Football Combine, page 5:
      If you purchased this book chances are that you are planning on participating in a football combine or pro-day test.
    • 2020, Jay R. Hoffman, The Science of American Football:
      In 2008, a study was published that examined the ability of the NFL combine to predict football playing performance in the NFL (Kuzmits and Adams, 2008).
    • 2020 April 23, Ken Belson, Ben Shpigel, “Full Round 1 2020 N.F.L. Picks and Analysis”, in The New York Times‎[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 April 2020:
      At the combine, Reagor compared himself to the 49ers’ Deebo Samuel or Chiefs’ Tyreek Hill — whom he said he watched “every day”
  1. ^ “combine, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

combine

  1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive of combinar

Abbreviation of combinaison.

combine f (plural combines)

  1. (colloquial) trick, scheme

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

combine

  1. inflection of combiner:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

combine

  1. inflection of combinar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Borrowed from French combine or English combine.

combine f (invariable)

  1. (sports) tactical foul play between two people or teams aimed to evict a third person or team
    Synonym: biscotto

combine

  1. inflection of combinar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

combine

  1. third-person singular/plural present subjunctive of combina

combine

  1. inflection of combinar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative