Definition of tease out

The phrase "tease out" is derived from the meaning of the word "tease" in a specialized context. Historically, teasing refers to the act of pulling out or separating something, such as combing out tangles from hair or unraveling a skein of yarn. In its original use, "tease out" referred specifically to the process of loosening and separating threads or fibers in a woven fabric, particularly woolen fabric, to create a fluffy, bulky texture known as "teasing". This technique was traditionally used in the production of warm, textured fabrics like tweed and Harris Tweed. The usage of "tease out" in this context can be traced back to the mid-1800s, as the production of tweed and other woolen fabrics began to expand during the Industrial Revolution. As the phrase became more commonly used in the textile industry, it expanded to include more general contexts, such as untangling knots, separating complex ideas, or extracting details from a situation. Thus, today, the term "tease out" is widely used in various contexts to indicate the process of separating or distinguishing one element from a complex whole, such as explicating a difficult concept, disentangling a thicket of ideas, or pulling out key points from a situation. The etymology of the phrase continues to live on in the unique way that it calls upon the tactile sensation of physically pulling out threads, invoking the image of a fabric being transformed by the process.