teaser

The nearly impossible puzzle your math teacher gives for extra credit can be called a teaser — a tricky problem to solve.

A mystifying problem is one kind of teaser — another is a person who loves to tease. Your nose-grabbing, practical joking uncle is a teaser, especially if he enjoys gently mocking or making fun of you. Yet another teaser is the kind that opens a TV show — sort of a sneak preview of the story to come. This is closest to the original meaning of teaser, from 1934, "an introductory advertisement or sample."

Primary Meanings of teaser

1.
 n
an advertisement that offers something free in order to arouse customers' interest
2.
 n
a particularly baffling problem that is said to have a correct solution
3.
 n
a worker who teases wool
4.
 n
a flat at each side of the stage to prevent the audience from seeing into the wings
Full Definitions of teaser
1

n an advertisement that offers something free in order to arouse customers' interest

Type of:
ad, advert, advertisement, advertising, advertizement, advertizing
a public promotion of some product or service

n an attention-getting opening presented at the start of a television show

Type of:
opening
the initial part of the introduction

n someone given to teasing (as by mocking or stirring curiosity)

Synonyms:
annoyer, tease, vexer
Type of:
persona non grata, unwelcome person
a person who for some reason is not wanted or welcome
2

n a particularly baffling problem that is said to have a correct solution

Synonyms:
mystifier, puzzle, puzzler
Types:
sudoku
a number puzzle in which the numbers 1 through 9 must be placed into a grid of cells so that each row or column contains only one of each number
acrostic, word square
a puzzle where you fill a square grid with words reading the same down as across
Type of:
problem
a question raised for consideration or solution
3

n a worker who teases wool

Type of:
worker
a person who works at a specific occupation

n a device for teasing wool

“a teaser is used to disentangle the fibers”
Type of:
device
an instrumentality invented for a particular purpose
4

n a flat at each side of the stage to prevent the audience from seeing into the wings

Synonyms:
tormenter, tormentor
Type of:
flat
scenery consisting of a wooden frame covered with painted canvas; part of a stage setting

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