Definition of "tease" []

• To annoy or pester; vex. (verb-transitive)
• To make fun of; mock playfully. (verb-transitive)
• To arouse hope, desire, or curiosity in without affording satisfaction. (verb-transitive)
• To urge persistently; coax: teasing their mother for more candy. (verb-transitive)
• To gain by persistent coaxing: "the New York editor who could tease great books from the unpromising woolly jumble of an author's first draft” ( Ian Jack). (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "So, next hour, give us what we call a tease in this business."
• "M. O'BRIEN: Hence you have what we call a tease in television."
• "Now, with an economic crisis upon us coupled with a public that is gun shy about gas prices (you just know those $1.75 prices are only a short-term tease), they now come running, hat-in-hand, begging for bridge loans, as if this economic downturn was the only obstacle in front of them before reinventing themselves into profitable companies that build great products."