combine

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

• (verb):
  • enPR: kəm-bīn', IPA^(key): /kəmˈbaɪn/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -aɪn

• (noun):
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒm.baɪn/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • (US) enPR: käm'bīn, IPA^(key): /ˈkɑm.baɪn/

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

   • 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. , London: T N for Henry Herringman, , published 1676, →OCLC, (please specify the page number):

     You with your foes combine, / And seem your own destruction to design.

   • 1805, Walter Scott, “(please specify the page)”, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A Poem, London: [James Ballantyne] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, , and A Constable and Co., , →OCLC:

     So sweet did harp and voice 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.
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     I am combined by a sacred vow.

• See synonyms at Thesaurus:coalesce.

• divide
• separate
• disunite

combine (plural combines)

2. 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

4. A combination.
   2. 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.

   4. An industrial conglomeration in a socialist country, particularly in the former Soviet bloc.

      Synonym: kombinat

      His grandmother worked in the stamping plant of the sheet and tin combine.

   6. (art) An artwork falling between painting and sculpture, having objects embedded into a painted surface.
6. Ellipsis of combine car: a type of railway car that combines passenger and freight functions.
8. (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 24, Ken Belson, Ben Shpigel, “Full Round 1 2020 N.F.L. Picks and Analysis”, in New York Time‎:

     At the combine, Reagor compared himself to the 49ers’ Deebo Samuel or Chiefs’ Tyreek Hill — whom he said he watched “every day”

• combine driver

• becomin'

combine

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

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.bin/

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”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

• combien

combine

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

Borrowed from French combine or English combine.

• IPA^(key): /komˈbin/, /ˈkɔm.bajn/
• Rhymes: -in, -ɔmbajn

combine f (invariable)

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

   Synonym: biscotto

• incombe, incombé

combine

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

• IPA^(key):

combine

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

• IPA^(key): /komˈbine/
• Rhymes: -ine
• Syllabification: com‧bi‧ne

combine

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