28 August 2018

teasel or teazel, teazle

[tee-zuh l]

noun

1. any of several plants of the genus Dipsacus, having prickly leaves and flower heads.
Compare teasel family.
2. the dried flower head or bur of the plant D. fullonum, used for teasing or teaseling cloth.
3. any mechanical contrivance used for teaseling.
verb (used with object), teaseled, teaseling or (especially British) teaselled, teaselling.
4. to raise a nap on (cloth) with teasels; dress by means of teasels.

Origin of teasel

Middle English, Old English
1000, before 1000; Middle English tesel, Old English tǣsel; akin to tease

Related forms

teaseler; especially British, teaseller, noun
unteaseled, adjective
unteaselled, adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for teasel

Historical Examples

All these Indians spin the thread, of which they make their nets, of a kind of teasel.
The Conquest of the River Plate (1535-1555)
Ulrich Schmidt

The teasel and sun and moon were emblematical of the chief staples of the place; the woollen trade and the mining interests.
A Book of the West. Volume I Devon
S. Baring-Gould

In fact, ‘the seal of the Port-reeve bears a church between a teasel and a saltire, with the sun and moon above.’
Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and Coasts
Rosalind Northcote

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Today’s quote

Your brain needs plenty of rest to function at it’s optimal level. Go to sleep!

― Lalah Delia

On this day

28 August 1837 – Worcestershire Sauce manufactured by John Lea and William Perrins.

28 August 1963 – Martin Luther King Jr gives his famous ‘I have a dream’ speech to 250,000 civil rights activists in Washington DC, in which he called for an end to racism.