Tease | Mean of tease in English Dictionary

/ˈtiːz/

• Verb
• to laugh at and criticize (someone) in a way that is either friendly and playful or cruel and unkind
1. He and his wife enjoy teasing each other about their different tastes in music.
2. The other children teased her because she was wearing braces.
3. He was always teased by his brother about being short.
4. Oh, don't get so angry. I was just/only teasing!
5. Stop your teasing!
• to annoy or bother (an animal)
1. The boy's mother told him to stop teasing the dog.
• to make (hair) look fuller or bigger by combing it in a special way
1. She teases [=(chiefly Brit) backcombs] her hair.

• to make (someone) feel excitement or interest about something you might do or say without actually doing it or saying it
1. Stop teasing us and tell us who your surprise guest is.
2. She likes to tease.
• to remove or separate (thin pieces of something) slowly and carefully
1. The twisted strands of the rope were gently teased apart.
2. They described the techniques used to tease out [=extract] genetic material from DNA.
3. She carefully teased the roots of the young plant out of the soil.
4. Reporters are still trying to tease out [=find out] the details of the accident.
5. It won't be easy to tease out the meaning of these statistics.
• Noun
• a person who teases other people
1. He's just a tease.
• a person who seems to be sexually interested in someone but who is not serious about having a sexual relationship
1. a pretty girl who has the reputation of being a bit of a tease
• a joking remark that criticizes someone in a friendly way
1. Don't take what he said seriously. It was just a tease.