teasel

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a tall prickly plant of the genus Dipsacus with spiny, cone-shaped flower heads

   A teasel stood above the meadow with finches feeding on its seeds.

2. 2
   noun

   a dried teasel head, or a tool modeled on it, used to raise the nap of cloth

   The fuller brushed the woollen cloth with a dried teasel.

3. 3
   verb

   to raise the nap of cloth with teasels or a similar tool

   Workers teaselled the fabric to give it a soft surface.

From Middle English tesel and Old English taesel, related to taesan, 'to tease or pull apart.' The plant's hooked heads were used to tease up the nap of woollen cloth, giving the noun a tool sense and later a verb.

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