tousle
verb /ˈtaʊzl/
/ˈtaʊzl/
[usually passive]Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they tousle | /ˈtaʊzl/ /ˈtaʊzl/ |
| he / she / it tousles | /ˈtaʊzlz/ /ˈtaʊzlz/ |
| past simple tousled | /ˈtaʊzld/ /ˈtaʊzld/ |
| past participle tousled | /ˈtaʊzld/ /ˈtaʊzld/ |
| -ing form tousling | /ˈtaʊzlɪŋ/ /ˈtaʊzlɪŋ/ |
- tousle something to make somebody’s hair untidyTopics Appearancec2Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘handle roughly or rudely’): frequentative of dialect touse ‘handle roughly’, of Germanic origin and related to German zausen. Compare with tussle.