tease
noun/tiːz/
/tiːz/
[usually singular]- a person who likes to play tricks and jokes on other people, especially by telling them something that is not true or by not telling them something that they want to know
- an act that is intended as a trick or joke
- Ignore everything he said—it was all just a tease.
- (disapproving) a person who pretends to be attracted to somebody, makes them sexually excited and then refuses to have sex with them
Word OriginOld English tǣsan (in sense (4) of the verb), of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch teezen and German dialect zeisen, also to teasel. Senses 1 to 3 are a development of the earlier and more serious ‘irritate by annoying actions’ (early 17th cent.), a figurative use of the word's original sense.
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tease