tease

Etymology

From Middle English tesen, from Old English tǣsan (“to tease”), from Proto-Germanic *taisijaną (“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.

Pronunciation

• enPR: tēz, IPA^(key): /tiːz/

• Audio (US)

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• Homophones: teas, tees
• Rhymes: -iːz

Verb

tease (third-person singular simple present teases, present participle teasing, simple past and past participle teased)

1. to separate the fibres of a fibrous material
2. to comb (originally with teasels) so that the fibres all lie in one direction
3. to back-comb
4. (transitive) to poke fun at
5. (transitive) to provoke or disturb; to annoy
   • 1684, Samuel Butler, Hudibras

     Not by the force of carnal reason, / But indefatigable teasing.

   • 1848, Thomas Macaulay, History of England, volume I, page 76:

     He […] suffered them to tease him into acts directly opposed to his strongest inclinations.

   • 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 24962326:

     "My tastes," he said, still smiling, "incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet." And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: "I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I'd rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don't like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects; […]."

6. (transitive) to manipulate or influence the behavior of, especially by repeated acts of irritation
   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume I, chapter 14:

     A young woman, if she fall into bad hands, may be teased, and kept at a distance from those she wants to be with; but one cannot comprehend a young man’s being under such restraint, as not to be able to spend a week with his father, if he likes it.

7. (transitive) to entice, tempt
8. (transitive, informal) to show as forthcoming, in the manner of a teaser
   • 2017 July 7, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, “The ambitious War For The Planet Of The Apes ends up surrendering to formula”, in The Onion AV Club‎:

     a less interesting character here than in the previous two films, Caesar glowers through the movie, as though aware that he has been condemned to a script that is rushing to clear the stage for the straightforward Planet Of The Apes remake first teased in Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.

Noun

tease (plural teases)

1. one who teases
2. a single act of teasing
3. a cock tease

   Synonyms: cocktease, cockteaser, prickteaser

   1. an exotic dancer; a stripper.

Anagrams

• Seeta, setae, setæ