TEASE

v. n.

5 definitions — Webster’s Dictionary (1828)


1.
v.

To comb or card, as wool or flax. "Teasing matted wool." Wordsworth.

2.
v.

To stratch, as cloth, for the purpose of raising a nap; teasel.

3.
v.

To tear or separate into minute shreds, as with needles or similar instruments.

4.
v.

To vex with importunity or impertinence; to harass, annoy, disturb, or irritate by petty requests, or by jests and raillery; to plague. Cowper. He . . . suffered them to tease him into acts directly opposed to his strongest inclinations. Macaulay.

5.
n.

One who teases or plagues. [Colloq.]


← TEARY T — all words TEASEL →