I. tease 1 /tiːz/ BrE AmE verb
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: tæsan ]
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.
REGISTER
In everyday English, people often say make fun of rather than tease :
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Stop making fun of me!
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 English to comb your hair in the opposite direction to which it grows, so that it looks thicker SYN backcomb British English
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THESAURUS
▪ tease 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. In everyday English, people often say make fun of rather than tease :
At work, we all tease her because she’s always late.
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Sam’s sisters used to tease him because he was overweight.
▪ make fun of somebody/something to tease someone, especially in an unkind way, by laughing at something they do and making them seem stupid:
The boys at school used to make fun of me and call me names.
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Everyone made fun of the way our Maths teacher walked.
▪ taunt /tɔːnt tɔːnt/ to tease someone in a very unpleasant way that shows you do not respect them, in order to make them angry or upset:
In the end he hit the man for taunting him about his wife.
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The other prisoners taunted him until he couldn’t bear it any more.
▪ pull sb’s leg informal to tease someone in a friendly way, by trying to make them think something is true when it is not:
I’m not really 18. I was only pulling your leg.
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I don’t believe you! You’re pulling my leg!
▪ wind somebody up British English informal to deliberately say something to someone, in order to see if they become annoyed or worried:
Are you trying to wind me up?
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My friends are always winding me up about it.
▪ take the mickey (out of somebody) British English informal to make someone look silly, often in a friendly way, for example by copying them or saying something that you do not really mean about them:
I don’t speak like that – stop taking the mickey!
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‘You’re a genius, we all know that!’ ‘Are you taking the mickey out of me?’
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.
II. tease 2 BrE AmE noun [countable] informal
1 . someone who enjoys making jokes at people, and embarrassing them, especially in a friendly way:
Don’t take any notice of Joe – he’s a big tease.
2 . something that you say or do as a joke, to tease someone:
I’m sorry, it was only a tease.
3 . someone who deliberately makes you sexually excited, but has no intention of having sex with you