TEASE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Tease

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verb

Tease v. t. (past & past part. teased; pres. part. teasing)

1.

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

2.

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

3.

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

4.

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

Synonyms: To vex; harass: annoy; disturb; irritate; plague; torment; mortify; tantalize; chagrin. Tease, Vex. To tease is literally to pull or scratch, and implies a prolonged annoyance in respect to little things, which is often more irritating, and harder to bear, than severe pain. Vex meant originally to seize and bear away hither and thither, and hence, to disturb; as, to vex the ocean with storms. This sense of the term now rarely occurs; but vex is still a stronger word than tease, denoting the disturbance or anger created by minor provocations, losses, disappointments, etc. We are teased by the buzzing of a fly in our eyes; we are vexed by the carelessness or stupidity of our servants. "Not by the force of carnal reason, But indefatigable teasing." "In disappointments, where the affections have been strongly placed, and the expectations sanguine, particularly where the agency of others is concerned, sorrow may degenerate into vexation and chagrin."

Tease tenon (Joinery), a long tenon at the top of a post to receive two beams crossing each other one above the other.

noun

Tease n. One who teases or plagues. (Colloq.)

See images of 'Tease'

Etymology of 'Tease'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Tease" Quotes from Famous Books

... man who might and would get me if he thought he could get away with it. But why should he wish to shoot a woman? Crawl out to the left and then go in and let the folks know everything is all right now. I'm going to hang around a bit and try to tease that cayuse into shooting at ...

— Grace Harlowe's Overland Riders on the Great American Desert • Jessie Graham Flower

... present—the veil which, in your princely extravagance, you sent for from London: resolved, I suppose, since I would not have jewels, to cheat me into accepting something as costly. I smiled as I unfolded it, and devised how I would tease you about your aristocratic tastes, and your efforts to masque your plebeian bride in the attributes of a peeress. I thought how I would carry down to you the square of unembroidered blond I had myself prepared as a covering ...

— Jane Eyre - an Autobiography • Charlotte Bronte

... speaker, delighted to tease the doctor, "for instance, I made up my mind all the time I was here to stick in a low form. It was an easier life, and fun to boss kids like Edgar Doe and Rupert Ray. And I pulled all the strings of the famous Bramhall Riot, as Ray knows. And ...

— Tell England - A Study in a Generation • Ernest Raymond

... dog who cannot approach, by constantly putting out at him its fiery tongue. The clock, bored in its oak case, before striking the august hour of meal time, swings its great gilt navel to and fro; and the cunning flies tease your ears. On the glittering table lie a chicken, a hare, three partridges, besides other things which are called fruits—peaches, melons, grapes—and which are all good for nothing. The cook guts a big silver fish and throws the entrails (instead of giving them to ...

— Our Friend the Dog • Maurice Maeterlinck

... human hands, a door would fly open, giving a tantalizing glimpse of things to eat which he could never touch, for if he came near, the door would close again as mysteriously as it had opened. Dan loved to tease him with it, and Zeb, fearing magic, would take to his heels whenever ...

— The Puritan Twins • Lucy Fitch Perkins

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