teasel

American  

[tee-zuhl] / ˈti zəl /

Or teazel,

noun

1. any of several plants of the genus Dipsacus, having prickly leaves and flower heads.

2. the dried flower head or bur of the plant D. fullonum, used for teasing or teaseling cloth.

3. any mechanical contrivance used for teaseling.

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verb (used with object)

teaseled, teaseling, teaselled, teaselling

1. to raise a nap on (cloth) with teasels; dress by means of teasels.

teasel British  

/ ˈtiːzəl /

noun

1. any of various stout biennial plants of the genus Dipsacus, of Eurasia and N Africa, having prickly leaves and prickly heads of yellow or purple flowers: family Dipsacaceae See also fuller's teasel

2. 1. the prickly dried flower head of the fuller's teasel, used for teasing

   2. any manufactured implement used for the same purpose

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verb

1. (tr) to tease (a fabric)

Other Word Forms

• teaseler
  noun
• teaseller
  noun
• unteaseled
  adjective
• unteaselled
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of teasel

before 1000; Middle English tesel, Old English tǣsel; akin to tease

Example Sentences

Behind the bar, they swagged a second garland made from teasel and sweet gum and poppy seed pods.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 13, 2022

Then they draped a garland of sliced, dried teasel between the branches of the tree.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 13, 2022

They are targeting Johnson grass, giant foxtail, Canada thistle, nodding thistle, common teasel, multiflora rose, Amur honeysuckle, poison hemlock, marestail, Japanese knotweed and kudzu.

From Washington Times • Mar. 18, 2021

They like to sit there and watch the wind blowing through the pale purple teasel, alone but for the murder of crows that guard their property.

From New York Times • Sep. 16, 2019

Some, too, of the elders sat combing their long beards with a kind of teasel that grows in the valleys, while their faint voices sounded in their gossiping like hundreds of grasshoppers in a meadow.

From The Three Mulla-mulgars by De la Mare, Walter