Teasel Definition

tēzəl
teasels
noun
Any of a genus (Dipsacus) of bristly plants of the teasel family, with prickly, cylindrical heads of yellowish or purplish flowers, esp. the fuller's teasel (D. fullonum) with flower heads having sharp, spinelike bracts.
Webster's New World
The cultivated teasel D. sativus.
American Heritage
A flower head of the fuller's teasel, used when dried for raising a nap on cloth.
Webster's New World
Any device for raising a nap on cloth.
Webster's New World
Any contrivance intended as a substitute for teasels in dressing cloth.
Wiktionary
Synonyms:
verb
teasels
To produce a napped surface on (a fabric).
American Heritage
To raise a nap on (cloth) by means of teasels.
Webster's New World
adjective
Designating a family (Dipsacaceae, order Dipsacales) of dicotyledonous plants bearing dense flower heads covered with stiff bracts, including scabiosa and teasel.
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Teasel

Noun

Singular:
teasel
Plural:
teasels

Origin of Teasel

  • From Middle English tesel, tasil, tasel, tosel, from Old English tÇ£sel, tÇ£sl (“to tease"), from Proto-Germanic *taisilō, *taislō (“thistle"), from Proto-Indo-European *dāy- (“to separate, divide"). Cognate with Scots tasil, tassill (“teasel"), German Zeisel (“thistle, teasel"). Related to tease.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English tesel from Old English tǣsel

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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