Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Topic: HAIR AND BEAUTY

Language: Old English
Origin: tæsan

tease

1 verb
     
tease1
1

laugh

[intransitive and transitive] to laugh at someone and make jokes in order to have fun by embarrassing them, either in a friendly way or in an unkind way:
Don't get upset. I was only teasing.
He used to tease her mercilessly.
tease somebody about something
She used to tease me about my hair.
2

annoy an animal

[transitive] to deliberately annoy an animal:
Stop teasing the cat!
3

sex

[intransitive and transitive] to deliberately make someone sexually excited without intending to have sex with them, in a way that seems unkind
4

hair

[transitive] American EnglishDCB to comb your hair in the opposite direction to which it grows, so that it looks thicker [= backcomb British English]

tease something ↔ out

phrasal verb
1 to succeed in learning information that is hidden, or that someone does not want to tell you
tease something ↔ out of
I finally managed to tease the truth out of her.
2 to gently move hairs or threads that are stuck together so that they become loose or straight again:
She combed her hair, gently teasing out the knots.
Definition of tease from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English within
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