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Origin and history of tease

tease(v.)

formerly also teaze, Middle English tesen "pull apart and clean" adhering fibers of raw flax, wool, etc., from Old English tæsan "pluck, pull, tear; pull apart, comb" (fibers of wool, flax, etc.), from Proto-Germanic *taisijan (source also of Danish tæse, Middle Dutch tesen, Dutch tezen "to draw, pull, scratch," Old High German zeisan "to tease, pick wool"). Compare teasel.

The original action is running thorns through wool or flax to separate, shred, or card the fibers. The figurative meaning "vex, worry, annoy" someone by petty requests or silly trifling (sometimes done in good humor) is attested by 1610s. For similar sense development, compare heckle. The hair-dressing sense in reference to back-combing is recorded from 1957 (teasing in this sense is by 1923). Related: Teased; teasing; teasingly.

tease(n.)

1690s, "an act of teasing, state of being teased," from tease (v.). The colloquial meaning "one who or that which habitually teases" is from 1852. As short for strip-tease by 1927. Compare teaser.

also from 1690s

Entries linking to tease

heckle(v.)

early 14c., "to comb (flax or hemp) with a heckle;" from heckle (n.) or from related Middle Dutch hekelen. Figurative meaning "to question severely in a bid to uncover weakness" is from late 18c. "Long applied in Scotland to the public questioning of parliamentary candidates" [OED]. Presumably from a metaphor of rough treatment, but also compare hatchel "to harass" (1800), which may be a variant of hazel, the name of the plant that furnished switches for whippings. Related: Heckled; heckling.

teasel(n.)

also teazel, teazle, type of thistle-plant, native to temperate Europe and Asia, cultivated for use in fulling cloth and for medicinal purposes, Middle English tesel, Old English tæsel "large thistle used in teasing cloth," from Proto-Germanic *taisilo (source also of Old High German zeisala), which is related to the source of tease (v.), which is from Old English tæsan "to pluck."

As a verb from 1540s, "raise (the nap of cloth) with teasels." Related: Teaseled; teaseler (14c.); teaseling. An Old English name for wild teasel was wulfes camb "wolf's comb."