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. The dried prickly flower-head or bur of the fullers’ 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. 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, 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.
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.
