to irritate or provoke with persistent petty distractions, trifling raillery, or other annoyance, often in sport.
to pull apart or separate the adhering fibers of (wool or the like), as in combing or carding; comb or card, as wool; shred.
to ruffle (the hair) by holding it at the ends and combing toward the scalp so as to give body to a hairdo.
to raise a nap on (cloth) with teasels; teasel.
Also teaser. TelevisionSlang. a short scene or highlight shown at the beginning of a film or television show to attract the audience's attention.
verb (used without object),teased,teas·ing.
to provoke or disturb a person or animal by importunity or persistent petty annoyances.
noun
a person who teases or annoys.
the act of teasing or the state of being teased.
Origin of tease
before 1000;Middle Englishtesen (v.), Old Englishtǣsan to pull, tear, comb; cognate with Middle Low Germantesen,Old High Germanzeisan to pluck
Related formsteas·a·ble, adjectiveteas·a·ble·ness, nounteas·ing·ly, adverbout·tease, verb (used with object),out·teased,out·teas·ing.un·teased, adjective
"one who teases," 1852, from tease (v.). Specifically as short for cock-teaser, it was in use by 1976.
tease
v.
Old English tæsan "pluck, pull apart" (fibers of wool, flax, etc.), from West Germanic *taisijanan (cf. Danish tæse, Middle Dutch tesen, Dutch tezen "to draw, pull, scratch," Old High German zeisan "to tease, pick wool").
The original sense is of running thorns through wool or flax to separate, shred, or card the fibers. The figurative sense of "vex, worry, annoy" emerged 1610s. For similar sense development, see heckle. Hairdressing sense is recorded from 1957.
