Etymology Dictionary

TEASE,  to comb or card wool, scratch or raise the nap of cloth; to vex, plague.  (E.)   M.E. taisen, of which the pp. taysed is in Gawain and the Grene Knight, 1169.   But the more common form is tosen or toosen.   'They toose and pulle;' Gower, C. A. i. 17, l. 8.   'Tosyn, or tose wul' [tease wool]; Prompt.. Parv.   We also find to-tosen, to tease or pull to pieces, Owl and Nightingale, l. 70.—A.S. tǽsan, to pluck, pull, Ælfric's Grammar, ed. Zupitza, p. 170, l. 13.   The M.E. tosen would answer to a by-form tásan*, not recorded. + O. Du. teesen, to pluck; wolle teesen, 'to pluck wooll,' Hexham. + Dan. tæse, tæsse, to tease wool. + Bavarian zaisen, to tease wool, Schmeller; he also cites M.H.G. zeisen, to tease, a strong verb, with pt. t. zies, pp. gezeisen.   β. The form of the base appears to be TIS; perhaps allied to G. zausen, to touse, pull, drag, of which the apparent base is TUS.   Der. teas-el, q.v.