teasel
Americannoun
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any of several plants of the genus Dipsacus, having prickly leaves and flower heads.
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the dried flower head or bur of the plant D. fullonum, used for teasing or teaseling cloth.
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any mechanical contrivance used for teaseling.
verb (used with object)
noun
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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
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the prickly dried flower head of the fuller's teasel, used for teasing
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any manufactured implement used for the same purpose
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verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of teasel
before 1000; Middle English tesel, Old English tǣsel; akin to tease
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Then they draped a garland of sliced, dried teasel between the branches of the tree.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 13, 2022
Elsewhere, they created big, unwieldy bunches of teasel, asparagus and white pine cut from their garden in Montauk, adding locally harvested flowers and branches from the floral design studio Field Studies Flora.
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
The teasel was used to raise the nap in making cloth, and was a symbol of that industry, as the sun and moon were symbols of mining.
From Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and Coasts by Northcote, Rosalind
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
