English

Noun

combo ‎(plural combos)

1. A small musical group.

   The jazz combo played nightly at the little restaurant.

2. (slang) A combination.

   I need to open the safe but I forgot the combo.

   I order the low priced combo platter: a taco, a burrito and a chimichanga.

3. (video games) An action composed of a sequence of simpler actions, especially a composite attacking move in a fighting game.
   • 2002, Andy Slaven, Video Game Bible, 1985-2002

     Obviously, this is something not seen very often, with super flashy, combo-driven fighters dominating store shelves everywhere.

4. (Australia, pejorative) A Caucasian man who marries or has a sexual relationship with an Aboriginal woman; a Caucasian man who lives among Aboriginal people and adopts Aboriginal culture
   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, Chapter VII, p. 107-8,

     " […] Look at Ganger O'Cannon of Black Adder Creek, with his halfcaste wife and quadroon kids, a down-right family man—yet looked on as as much a combo as if he lived in a blacks' camp. Isn't that so? […] The casual comboes are respected, while men like O'Cannon and myself, who rear their kids, are utterly despised. […] "

   • 1993, Journal of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, p. 97,

     If he sides with the Aborigines against their employers and exploiters, he may be called a ' combo ', and yet he may not achieve popularity with the Aborigines.

   • 1996, Jeremy MacClancy and Chris McDonaugh (eds), Popularizing Anthropology, London and New York: Routledge, p. 167,

     Many passages in Harney's books are written from the point of view of what he refers to as the ' combo '; a white man who has sexual relations with Aboriginal women. The combo is seen as an anarchic, egalitarian figure whose enjoyment of life largely comes through his pursuit of Aboriginal women.

Derived terms

• combo box
• combo deck
• go combo
• popular beat combo

Translations

Anagrams

• coomb

Spanish

Etymology

From Quechua kumpa

Noun

combo m ‎(plural combos)

1. (Latin America) gavel, wooden hammer
2. (Bolivia, Chile, Peru) punch

Synonyms

• (punch): puñetazo, puñete
• (hammer): mazo

Verb

combo

1. First-person singular (yo) present indicative form of combar.