make a monkey out of vs tease

make a monkey out of

verb
  • To cause a person, group, or action to appear foolish or inferior; to subject someone or something to ridicule. 

tease

verb
  • To provoke or disturb; to annoy. 

  • To separate the fibres of (a fibrous material). 

  • To poke fun at, either cruelly or affectionately. 

  • To entice, tempt. 

  • To show as forthcoming, in the manner of a teaser. 

  • To comb (originally with teasels) so that the fibres all lie in one direction. 

  • To manipulate or influence the behavior of, especially by repeated acts of irritation. 

  • To backcomb. 

noun
  • A single act of teasing. 

  • One who teases. 

  • One who deliberately arouses others (usually men) sexually with no intention of satisfying that arousal. 

How often have the words make a monkey out of and tease occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )