Tease Definition
tēz
teased, teases, teasing
verb
teased, teases, teasing
To indulge in teasing.
Webster's New World
To make fun of (someone) playfully or taunt annoyingly.
Was teased by my classmates for being skinny; teased him about driving such a fast car.
American Heritage
To say in a playful or mocking way.
“But you're too young to get married,” he teased.
American Heritage
To provoke or irritate, as with physical movements.
Teased the cat by dangling a string in its face.
American Heritage
To separate the fibers of; card or comb (flax, wool, etc.)
Webster's New World
noun
A teasing or being teased.
Webster's New World
An act of teasing, especially a playfully mocking remark.
His tease of his friend's little sister.
American Heritage
A person who teases.
Webster's New World
Other Word Forms of Tease
Noun
Singular:
teasePlural:
teasesOrigin of Tease
-
From Middle English tesen, from Old English tÇ£san (“to tease"), from Proto-Germanic *taisijanÄ… (“to separate, tug, shred"), from Proto-Indo-European *dāy- (“to separate, divide"). Cognate with West Frisian tiezje, tiizje (“to baffle, perplex"), Dutch tezen (“to pull, tug, scratch"), German zeisen (“to pluck, pluck apart"), Danish tæse (“to tease"). Related to touse, tose.
From Wiktionary
Middle English tesen to comb apart from Old English tǣsan
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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