teaser 
4. Anything which teases, or causes trouble or 
annoyance. [Colloq.] 
The third [fence] is a teaser an ugly Mack bullfinch 
with a ditch on the landing side. 
6208 
technicality 
Lightly. hee| Wrath] is an oldeman(for those yeares arc teazel-frame (te'zl-fram), n. A frame of wood 
most wayward and ttatigh), yet, he he neuer so olde or so or j ron ^ o wn ich teazel-heads are secured, used, 
SflMTwflSS s?t e re e extreame W to Vi st e riu'e wUh either by hand or by means of a machine to 
' liother Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, p. 35. which it is connected, for the purpose of teazel- 
mares or ewes, but n v - -- - 
6. A gull-teaser: a sailors' and fishermen s 
name of sundry predatory birds of the family 
Laridse and subfamily StereorofUnm, as a skua. 
Also called boatswain, atarUnespike, and </</- 
It n liter. See cuts under skua and Stercontnim. 
7. A name applied by Brush to a magnetiz- 
ing coil on the field-magnets of his dynamo, 
the ends of which were connected to the ter- 
minals of the machine so as to form an inde- 
pendent circuit with the coil of the armature ; 
the shunt coil in a compound wound dynamo. 
S. P. Thompson, Dynamo-Elect. Mach., p. 98. 
tea-service (te'ser"vis), . The articles, taken 
collectively, used in serving tea. 
tea-set (te'set), . A collection of the vessels 
used in serving tea, as tea-pot, sugar-bowl, and 
cream-jug, sometimes including cups and sau- 
cers. 
tease-tenon, w. Same as teaze-tenon. 
tea-shrub (te'shrub), n. The common tea- 
plant. 
teasing (te'zing), p. a. Vexing; irritating; an- 
noying. 
Don't be so teasing: you plague a body so! cann't you 
keen your filthy hands to yourself? 
Swift, Polite Conversation, ii. 
teasingly (te'zing-li), adv. In a teasing man- 
ner. Scribner's May. , IX. 203. 
. Yvuvioii fabrics by means 
. . . . tra y B m B lea > are fixed in frames, which are carried by a revolving cylin- 
nsporting tea-things, etc. der, against which the cloth is pressed while being moved 
tea-tree (te'tre), . 1. The common tea-plant in the opposite direction. See gigging-machine. 
ortea-shrub. See tea 1 , 2. 2. A name of vari- teazelwort (te'zl-wert), n. A plant of the order 
ous myrtaceous and other plants, chiefly of the I}ipsacace<e. Lindtey. 
genera Leptospermum and Melaleuca, found in teazer, . See teaser. 
Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. See teaze-tenon (tez'ten"on), n. In carp., a ten- 
phrases below. Very abundant and conspicuous, es- on on the top of a tenon, with two shoulders 
pecially in New Zealand, is L. scoparium, the broom tea- an( l tenon from each, for supporting two level 
tree, known also as tea-scrub. It is an erect rigid shrub, ,,j eces o f timber at right angles to each other, 
or in the mountains prostrate, from 1 to 12 feet high, form- J , , 
ing dense thickets, with leatheiy sharp-pointed foliage, ^V? * '"'"' _ n _, 
covered for two months with abundant small white bios- tebbad (teb'ad), . [Pers.] Ihe Persian name 
soms. Its wood, though small, is hard and useful for turn- f or the scorching winds which blow over the 
ing, etc. L. lanigerum, the Tasmanian tea-tree (found also h t san( j v p l a i ns o f central Asia, carrying with 
Sfe^^^^^^^^<^ them cloud's of impalpable sandjwhich are said 
are reputed to have been used by Captain Cook or early to act like flakes of fire on the skin ot travelers, 
colonists as tea, which may account for the name, but the Tebeth (teb'eth), II. [Heb.] The tenth month 
native Australian name of the forniCT is i.^Wateca^ of the Jewigh ecclesiastical year, and the 
See ( ?ro t m e 40to n so n feet high, 'with 8 hard, "heavy'Vurable fourth of the secular year, beginning with the 
wood, widely diffused in Australia, new moon in December. 
Even the grass itself is not indigenous, all these hills tec (tek), w. [An abbr. of detective.] A detec- 
[in New Zealand] having till recently been densely clothed tive. [Thieves' slang.] 
res'emMh^JunipL'oT^^ itsfoHage They [Bow Street runners] are now, I believe, among 
consisting of tiny needles, while its delicate white bios- eves and other slang-talkers tecs 
soms resemble myrtle. It is called by the Maoris mana- JV. away., iti !er., Jii 
kiiu. " 
and! 
the i 
men for microscopic examination. 
teaslet, An obsolete spelling of teazel. 
teaspoon (te'spiin), n. A small spoon used 
with the tea-cup, or in similar ways : it is larger 
than the coffee-spoon and smaller than the des- 
sert-spoon. 
teaspoonful (te'spon-ful), w. [< teaspoon + -ful.'] 
As much as a teaspoon holds ; as a definite quan- 
tity, a fluidraehm. When solids are measured by 
the teaspoonful, the spoon is generally heaped. 
teaster, . An old spelling of tester. 
tea-stick (te'stik), . A stick or cudgel cut 
from the tea-tree, a common scrub in Australia. 
You should have a tea-slick, and take them by the tail, 
raising their hind legs off the ground, so that they can't 
bite you, and lay on like old gooseberry. 
11. Kingsley, Hillyars and Burtons, Ixii. 
teastiet, a. An obsolete form of testy. 
teat (tet), . [Early mod. E. also teate ; < ME. 
tete, < OP. tete, tette, F. tette = Pr. Pg. Sp. teta 
= It. tetta, teat; from the Teut. word repre- 
sented by the native E. tit, < ME. tit, title, < 
AS. tit (tttt-), etc.: see ft'* 1 .] 1. The mam- 
mary nipple; the tip of the mammary gland, 
through which milk passes out, or is drawn out 
by sucking or squeezing; the pap of a woman 
or the dug of a beast. In woman the teat is a delicate, 
elastic, erectile tissue of a pink or brownish tint, in which 
the lactiferous ducts come together to open at the end. 
Throughout the Mammalia the mammary glands are fur- 
nished with teats, except in the nippleless monotremes. 
Teats are generally single, one for each gland, but may 
be several, as the four of a cow's compound udder. 
2. Hence, the mammary gland; the breast; 
the udder. 3. Something resembling a teat, 
as a nozle Teat drill. See drilli. 
tea-table (te'ta'bl), . A table on which tea 
is set, or at which tea is drunk. Also used at- 
tributively : as, tea-table gossip. 
A circle of young ladies at their afternoon tea-table. 
Steele, Guardian, No. 34. 
tea-taster (te'tas'ter), . A tea-expert; one 
whose business it is to inspect and test teas by 
tasting. See taster. 
teated (te'ted), a. [< teat + -erf2.] j. Having 
teats; mammiferous. 2. Having a formation 
like that of a teat; mammillary; mammilli- 
form ; mastoid. 
teathe (teTH), v. and n. See tath. [Prov. 
Eng.] 
tea-things (te'thingz), . pi. The articles of 
the tea-service taken collectively ; more espe- 
cially, the tea-pot, tea-cups, etc. Compare tea- 
set, tea-service. [Colloq.] 
S'pose the tea-things all on 'em was solid silver, wa'n't 
they? Yeh didn't ask them, did yeh? 
H. B. Stove, Oldtown, p. 326. 
Teatin (te'a-tin), n. Same as Theatin. 
teatisht (te'tish), a. [Also teetish, and, with 
diff. term., teety, tetty ; origin uncertain; per- 
haps orig. applied to an infant fretful for the 
breast; < teat + -itfii.] Peevish. 
C. F. G. Gumming, in The Century, XXVH. 920. 
African tea-tree. See lycium. Bottle-green tea- 
In a techy manner; peevishly; fretful- 
itably. Imp. Diet. 
IS, tetchiness (tech'i-nes), H. [< techy 
+ -Jipss.] The state or character of being 
techy; peevishness; fretfulness. Sp. Hall, 
myrtaceous shrub or tree, Callistemon salignus, of Aus- Elisha with Naaman. 
tralia and Tasmania. Its wood is very close-grained, technic (tek'nik), a. and n. [I. a. = F. technique 
hard and heavy.- Ceylon tea-tree, Elieodendron . glau- _ gp tf cllieo _ p g . technico = It. tecnico (cf. 
D. G. technisch, Sw. Dan. teknisk), < NL. tech- 
nicus (cf. technicus, n., a teacher of art), < Gr. 
rexv'Kof, of or pertaining to art, artistic, skilful, 
< rixvri, art, handicraft, < TIKTCIV, Teneiv (/ *re/t), 
bring forth, produce.] I. a. Same as technical. 
It is only by the combination of the Phonetic utterance 
with the Technic and ^Esthetic elements that a perfect 
work of art has been produced, and that architecture can 
be said to have reached the highest point of perfection to 
which it can aspire. J. Feryusson, Hist. Arch., I. 39. 
cum. Duke of Argyll's tea-tree. See Lycium. 
Prickly tea-tree. Same as naambarr. Red scrub tea- 
tree, the Australian Bhodamnia trinervia, a myrtaceous 
shrub or tree. Also called three-veined myrtle. Swamp 
tea-tree, Melaleuca squarrosa, of Australia and Tasmania, 
a shrub, or sometimes a tree, with hard heavy wood, the 
bark in thin layers. M . annittaris is also so called in Tas- 
mania. Tasmanian tea-tree. See def. 2. White tea- 
tree, Leptospermum- ericoides, of New Zealand, a shrub, or 
a tree 40 or 50 feet high. The wood is hard and dense, 
tea-urn (te'ern). n. A vessel used on the tea- 
table for boiling water or keeping water hot : 
it differs from the tea-kettle chiefly in having 
II. n. 1. The method of performance or ma- 
a faucet or cock instead of a spout, so that it nipulation in any art, or that peculiar to any ar- 
has not to be moved or tipped for drawing hot tist or school ; technical skill or manipulation ; 
water. 
At the head of the table there was an old silver tea-urn, 
looking heavy enough to have the weight of whole gener- 
ations in it, into which at the moment of sitting down 
a serions-visaged waiting-maid dropped a red-hot weight, 
and forthwith the noise of a violent boiling arose. 
H. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 294. 
tea-ware (te'war), n. Plates, cups, etc., form- 
ing part of a tea-service. 
teazet, <' and . An obsolete spelling of tease. 
teaze-hole (tez'hol), w. The opening in a glass 
furnace through which fuel is put in. 
teazel, teasel (te'zl), n. [Formerly also teazle, 
tcasle, tassel; < ME. tesel, tasil, tascl, tosil, <_AS. 
tsesel, tsesl (= OHG. zeisala), teazel, < teesait, 
pluck, tease (wool) : see tease.] 1. A plant of 
the genus Dipsacus and family Dipsacaceee, 
chiefly D.fullonum, the fullers' teazel, together 
with D. sylvestris, the wild teazel, of which the 
former is suspected to be a cultivated variety. 
The wild plant is a native of temperate Europe and Asia, 
naturalized in America, the other also escaping from cul- 
tivation. The teazel is a coarse and stout hairy or prickly 
biennial. The useful part is the oblong-conical fruiting 
head, thickly set with slender-pointed bracts, which in the 
cultivated plant are recurved at the tip, and thus suited 
to raise a nap on woolen cloth. See cut under JHpmcus. 
2. The head or bur of the plant, which is the 
part used in teazeling cloth. 3. A teazeling- 
machine or any appliance substituted for the 
plant. 
teazel, teasel (te'zl), . t. ; pret. and pp. tea- 
zeled, teazeUed, teaseled, teaselled, ppr. teazeling, 
teazelling, teaseling, teaselling. [< teazel, .] 
To dress the surface of, as cloth, by means of 
teazels, or by some machine or appliance sub- 
stituted for them. Also tease. 
teazel-card (te'zl-kard), n. A wire card used 
as a substitute for teazels to raise the nap of 
cloth. 
artistic execution; specifically, in music, a col- 
lective term for all that relates to the purely 
mechanical part of either vocal or instrumental 
performance, but most frequently applied to 
the latter. The technic of a performer may be perfect, 
and yet his playing be devoid of expression, and fail to 
interpret intelligibly the ideas of the composer. Also used 
in the French form technique. 
They illustrate the method of nature, not the technic of 
a manlike artificer. Tyndall. 
How strange, then, the furtive apprehension of danger 
lying behind too much knowledge of form, too much tech- 
nic, which one is amazed to find prevailing so greatly in 
our own country. S. Lanier, The English Novel, p. 30. 
2. Same as tfchtiicx. 
Technic and Teleologic are the two branches of prac- 
tical knowledge, founded respectively on conation and 
feeling, and are both together, as Ethic, opposed to The- 
oretic, which Is founded on cognition. 
S. H. Hodgson, Time and Space, 68. 
(tek'ni-kal), a. and n. [< technic + 
-al.~\ I. a. Of or pertaining to the mechanical 
arts, or any particular art, science, profession, 
or trade ; specially appropriate to or character- 
istic of any art, science, profession, or trade : as, 
a technical word or phrase ; a word taken in a 
technical sense; a technical difficulty; technical 
skill; technical schools. 
The last Fault which I shall take notice of in Milton's 
Stile is the frequent use of what the Learned call Tech- 
nical Words, or Terms of Art. Addison, Spectator, No. 297. 
Of the ttnus of art I have received such as could be 
found either in books of science or technical dictionaries. 
Johnson, Pref. to Diet 
" Technical education " . . . means that sort of educa- 
tion which is specially adapted to the needs of men whose 
business in life it is to pursue some kind of handicraft. 
Huxley, Tech. Education. 
II. . pi. Those things which pertain to the 
practical part of an art or science ; technicali- 
ties; technical terms; technics. Imp. Diet. 
teazeler, teaseler (tez'ler), n. [Also teazler, __, .. 
teazeller, teaseller; < teazel + -erl.] One who technicality (tek-ni-kal'i-ti), .; pi. teehmrali- 
uses the teazel for raising a nap on cloth. ties (-tiz). [< technical + -%.] 1. Technical- 
