3. (Anat.) To tear or separate into minute shreds, as with needles or
similar instruments.
4. To vex with importunity or impertinence; to harass, annoy, disturb,
or irritate by petty requests, or by jests and raillery; to plague.
Cowper.
He . . . suffered them to tease him into acts directly opposed to his
strongest inclinations.
Macaulay.
Syn. — To vex; harass: annoy; disturb; irritate; plague; torment;
mortify; tantalize; chagrin. — Tease, Vex. To tease is literally to
pull or scratch, and implies a prolonged annoyance in respect to little
things, which is often more irritating, and harder to bear, than severe
pain. Vex meant originally to seize and bear away hither and thither,
and hence, to disturb; as, to vex the ocean with storms. This sense of
the term now rarely occurs; but vex is still a stronger word than
tease, denoting the disturbance or anger created by minor provocations,
losses, disappointments, etc. We are teased by the buzzing of a fly in
our eyes; we are vexed by the carelessness or stupidity of our
servants.
Not by the force of carnal reason, But indefatigable teasing.
Hudibras.
In disappointments, where the affections have been strongly placed, and
the expectations sanguine, particularly where the agency of others is
concerned, sorrow may degenerate into vexation and chagrin.
Cogan.
Tease tenon (Joinery), a long tenon at the top of a post to receive two
beams crossing each other one above the other.