▪ I. teasel, teazle, n.
(ˈtiːz(ə)l)
Forms: α. 1 tǽsl, tǽsel, 3–5 tesel, 5 tesell, -yl(l, tesle, 5–7 tessel, 6 tesill, teasell, teassell, teysyll, 6–7 tessele, teazell, tezel, -ill, 7–8 teasil, 7– teasel, teasle, teazel, teazle, 8 testle. β. 4–6 tasel, 4–7 -il, 5 -yl, -ylle, -ul, -elle, taysill, 5–7 tazel, 6 tasill, -yll, tassyll, 6–7 tasell, tasle, tazell, tassill, 7 tassel, tazill, tazle, 8 tassell.
[OE. tǽsel, tǽsl = OHG. zeisala, -ila, str. fem., MHG. zeisel:—OTeut. *taisilā, f. *taisan, OE. tǽsan to tease, with instr. suffix -lā. Hence AF. teizel.]
1. A plant of the genus Dipsacus, comprising herbs with prickly leaves and flower-heads; esp. fullers' teasel, D. fullonum, the heads of which have hooked prickles between the flowers, and are used for teasing cloth (see 2); and wild teasel, D. sylvestris, held by some to be the original type, but having straight instead of hooked prickles.
| [c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 282 Ðeos wyrt þe man camelleon alba & oþrum naman wulfes tæsl [MS. B. tæsel] nemneþ.] c 1265 Voc. Names Plants in Wr.-Wülcker 559/7 Uirga pastoris, wilde tesel. 1326 Lett.-bk. Lond. E. lf. 168 in Riley Memorials (1868) 150 [The thistles that in English are called] taseles. 1382 Wyclif Isa. xxxiv. 13 Ther shul springe in his houses thornes and netles, and tasil in the strengthis of it. a 1387 Sinon. Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.) 43/1 Virga pastoris, i. carduus agrestis, herba est quæ multum assimulatur carduo fullonum, an. wilde tasel. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. iv. 128 The tasul now in donged lond is sowe. 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 570/41 Cardo, a thystell, or a tesell. c 1450 Godstow Reg. 648 All tethe of tesyls that longyn to the office of fullers. 1598 Stow Surv. xviii. (1603) 167 There were Tasels planted for the use of Cloth workers. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 280 The Tazill, called in Greeke Dipsacos, hath leaues much resembling Lectuce. 1626 A. Speed Adam out of Ed. ix. (1659) 62 Tassels for Cloath-workers..will thrive..in England. 1630 Drayton Muses' Elysium Nymph. iii. lv, By stinging Nettles, pricking Teasels Raysing blisters like the measels. 1725 R. Bradley's Fam. Dict. s.v., They sow their Lands in some Parts of Essex with Teasils, to dress their Bays and Cloth with. 1872 Oliver Elem. Bot. ii. 193 The connate leaves of Common Teasel..collect the rain and dew that trickle down the stem. |
2. a. The dried prickly flower-head or bur of the fuller's teasel (see 1), used for teasing or dressing cloth so as to raise a nap on the surface.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 446 Cloth..is nouȝt comly to were, Tyl it is fulled.., Wasshen wel with water, and with taseles [v.rr. taselles, taslis] cracched. 1463–4 Rolls of Parlt. V. 502/2 That every Fuller..use Tazels, and noo Cardes, in disseyvably hurtyng the same Cloth. 1545 Rates of Customs c vij, Tasels the kyue conteining v.c. viij.d. Ibid. c vij b, Tasels the pipe xl.s. Tasels the thousande iij.s. iiij.d. 1564 Hawkins Voy. (Hakl. Soc.) 27 A kinde of corne called Maise,..the eare whereof is much like to a teasell. 1565–73 Cooper Thesaurus, Gnaphos, a tesill that tuckers vse to dresse cloth. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Applanisseur, The Cloathworker..with his cards of tazle. 1658 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. verse 14. iii. iii. §5 (1669) 80/2 Afflictions Bernard compares to the Tezel, which though it be sharp and scratching, is to make the cloth more pure and fine. 1829 J. L. Knapp Jrnl. Nat. 47 The use of the teazle is to draw out the ends of the wool from the manufactured cloth, so as to bring a regular pile or nap upon the surface. 1835 Teasels [see teasel v.]. 1870 Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 252 The best clothiers still prefer the teazel for finishing their cloth. |
b. As a heraldic bearing.
| 1660 Guillim's Heraldry iv. vii. 289 Sable, a Cheuron Ermine, between two Habicks in chief, and a Tessell in base, proper. This is the bearing of the worshipfull Company of the Cloath-workers. 1864 Boutell Her. Hist. & Pop. xxi. §11 (ed. 3) 369 A tezel slipped in base or. |
c. fig.| 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Water Cormorant's Compl. Wks. iii. 14/1 Though from terme to terme it be worne long, 'Tis drest still with the teazle of the tongue. 1863 Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. viii. 200 She is never content except when plying the teazle upon one hapless pate or other. |
3. transf. A mechanical substitute for the natural teasel in cloth-working.
| 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 193 Many contrivances have..been made for substituting metallic teasels..mounted in self-acting machines, for the thistle balls. |
† 4. Cf. teasel v. b.
Obs. rare.
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 334/1 In good Tessel, [is] ground in good order for Plowing and Sowing. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as
teasel crop,
teasel seed;
teasel-like adj.;
teasel-bur,
teasel-head,
teasel-top, the dried flower-head of the teasel: (
= sense 2);
teasel-frame, a frame in which teasel-heads are fixed for dressing cloth (so
teasel-board,
teasel-cylinder,
teasel-rod);
teaselwort, in
pl., Lindley's name for plants of the N.O.
Dipsacaceæ.
| 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 195 Springs that shall support the *teasel-boards when mounted on the barrel. |
| 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 135 Lone spots..Where wildness rears her lings and *teazle-burs. 1877 Knight Dict. Mech. s.v. Teaseling-machine, The teasel-burs..press..upon the whole width of the cloth which passes beneath them. |
| 1766 Museum Rust. VI. 4 This crop is no injury to the *teasel crop the first year. |
| 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 196 Conduct the cloth over the *teasel-cylinder, and keep it smoothly distended. |
| Ibid. 193 Two men,..seizing the *teasel-frame by the handles, scrubbed the face of the cloth. |
| 1743 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman Aug. xvi. 55 One of these stalks has produced..an hundred *Teasel Heads. 1764 Museum Rust. III. 242 After cutting off the teazel heads, and tying them in bunches. 1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. iii. 105 The use of teazle-heads is a remarkable feature in the process; for no combination of wires has yet been found that will effect the required object so efficiently as the little elastic prickles on the surface of these teazles. |
| 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 202 Cleaning the *teasel-rods and handles. |
| 1721 Mortimer Husb. (ed. 5) II. 202 The latter end of February or the beginning of March they sow the *Teasil-seed. |
| 1902 Cornish Naturalist Thames 91 The forest of tall *teazle-tops. |
| 1846 Lindley Veg. Kingd. 699 Dipsacaceæ. *Teazelworts. 1866 Treas. Bot. 249. |
▪ II. ˈteasel, ˈteazle, v. [f. prec. n.] trans. To raise a smooth nap on (cloth) with or as with teasels; to tease. Also
transf. Hence
ˈteaseling (
teasling)
vbl. n. (also
attrib.).
| [1464 Act 4 Edw. IV. c. 1 Qe chescun fullour..en sa arte & occupacion de fuller & scalpier ou tezeiler de drap excercise & use teizels & nulls cardes.] 1543 transl. That euery fuller..in his crafte & occupacyon of fullynge rowynge or taseylynge of clothe, shall exercise tasels and no cardes. 1603 Florio Montaigne (1634) 393 He..led him in a fullers or cloth⁓workers shoppe, where with Cardes and Teazels..he made him to be carded, scraped, and teazled so long, untill he died of it. 1607 Markham Caval. vi. (1617) 55 Dride sinewes of an Oxe, well tasled and mixt with well tempered glewe. 1733 P. Lindsay Interest Scot. 109 We understand the picking of Cloth..but we are not so adroit at the tasselling it. 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 192 The object..is to raise up the loose fibres of the woollen yarn into a nap..by scratching it either with thistle-heads called teasels, or with teasling-cards or brushes, made of wires. Ibid. 193 Moisture also softens their points and impairs their teasling powers. 1877 Knight Dict. Mech., Teaseling-machine,..in which woolen cloth is teaseled to raise a nap upon it. |
† b. transf. ? To dress or improve the surface of (land).
Cf. teasel n. 4.
Obs. rare.
| 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. x. 28 They teasil their perring wild sand with stall dung. |