Jump To:

• tee
  tee

  noun

  the letter T or t.
• TEE
  TEE

  abbreviation

  Trans-Europe Express.

tee

¹ American  

[tee] / ti /

noun

1. the letter T or t.

2. something shaped like a T , as a three-way joint used in fitting pipes together.

3. T-bar.

4. T-shirt.

5. the mark aimed at in various games, as curling.

---

adjective

1. having a crosspiece at the top; shaped like a T .

idioms

1. to a tee. T.

tee ² American  

[tee] / ti /

noun

1. Golf.

   1. Also called teeing ground.  the starting place, usually a hard mound of earth, at the beginning of play for each hole.

   2. a small wooden, plastic, metal, or rubber peg from which the ball is driven, as in teeing off.

2. Football. a device on which the ball may be placed to raise it off the ground preparatory to kicking.

---

verb (used with object)

• tees,
  present (3rd person singular)
• teed,
  past participle,  past
• teeing
  present participle

1. Golf. to place (the ball) on a tee.

verb phrase

1. tee off

   1. Golf. to strike the ball from a tee.

   2. Slang. to reprimand severely; scold.

      He teed off on his son for wrecking the car.

   3. Informal. to begin.

      They teed off the program with a medley of songs.

   4. Baseball, Softball. to make many runs and hits, especially extra-base hits.

      teeing off for six runs on eight hits, including three doubles and a home run.

   5. Baseball, Softball. to hit (a pitched ball) hard and far.

      He teed off on a fastball and drove it into the bleachers.

   6. Boxing. to strike with a powerful blow, especially to the head.

      He teed off on his opponent with an overhand right.

   7. Slang. to make angry, irritated, or disgusted.

      She was teed off because her dinner guests were late.

TEE ³ American  

Or T-E-E

abbreviation

1. Trans-Europe Express.

---

tee ¹ British  

/ tiː /

noun

1. a pipe fitting in the form of a letter T, used to join three pipes

2. a metal section with a cross section in the form of a letter T, such as a rolled-steel joist

3. any part or component shaped like a T

---

tee ² British  

/ tiː /

noun

1. Also called: teeing ground.  an area, often slightly elevated, from which the first stroke of a hole is made

2. a support for a golf ball, usually a small wooden or plastic peg, used when teeing off or in long grass, etc

---

verb

1. to position (the ball) ready for striking, on or as if on a tee

tee ³ British  

/ tiː /

noun

1. a mark used as a target in certain games such as curling and quoits

---

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• teeing
  present
• teed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• tee
  simple
• tees
  simple
• have teed
  perfect
• has teed
  perfect
• am teeing
  progressive
• are teeing
  progressive
• is teeing
  progressive
• have been teeing
  perfect progressive
• has been teeing
  perfect progressive

Past

• teed
  simple
• had teed
  perfect
• was teeing
  progressive
• were teeing
  progressive
• had been teeing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will tee
  simple
• will have teed
  perfect
• will be teeing
  progressive
• will have been teeing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of tee¹

First recorded in 1600–10

Origin of tee²

First recorded in 1665–75; origin uncertain

Explanation

In golf, a tee is the small wooden support off of which you hit a golf ball. The word tee is also used more generally for the area of a golf course where you begin a match. Other sports that use a tee include tee ball, American football, and rugby—each of these tees is significantly larger than a golf tee. As a verb, tee means "hit off of a tee," and in golf you "tee off" when play begins. Besides its Scottish origin, not much is known about where this word comes from. Informally, when you're teed off at someone, you're really angry.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tee TEE tees teed teeing

Could the series tee up a full Maximoff family reunion?

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026

Zoe Zeeman swayed back and forth behind her bass, simply dressed in a tee and vintage Lakers shorts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

You will watch them drive off the tee with such supernatural physical might you will wonder if you play the same sport.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

And she matched her eye-catching fashion sense with a similar performance from tee to green, carving out several excellent birdie chances that could have provided her with a more comfortable Sunday evening.

From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026

Dad rose from the recliner, decked out in his usual stuck-at-home uniform, a faded Fishbone concert tee and running shorts with worn-out elastic.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas

Take a moment to slow down, breathe deep and drink a cup of tea at Jäger TEE, a small family-owned tea shop steps away from the opera.

From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2022

But he found that physiologists had developed a better way to measure TEE over a day: the doubly labeled water method, which measures TEE without asking a subject to breathe into a hood all day.

From Science Magazine ● Feb. 16, 2022

OFF THE TEE I have one idiosyncrasy that helps my driving accuracy.

From Golf Digest ● Apr. 7, 2018

TEE TIMES: Tiger Woods will open Thursday at 12:07 p.m. on the 10th tee in a group with Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth.

From Washington Times ● Jan. 28, 2015

—In answer to the inquiry of TEE BEE, I beg to refer him to vol. iii.

From Notes and Queries, Number 84, June 7, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Geneologists, etc. by Various

Driven by nostalgia and a desire for authentic style, old threadbare tees have turned into big business.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

A much-improved performance against Wales now tees up their final game of this block against Steve Borthwick's England.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

By the end, screenwriter Ana Nogueira tees up some compelling moral dilemmas about the ethics of revenge, but Gillespie’s direction fails to entertain them with the weight they deserve.

From Salon ● Jun. 27, 2026

Twentysomethings clad in Deftones and Pikachu tees, Dodgers caps, and beaded bracelets joined the procession, snaking from the dance floor through the bar area and back down again.

From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026

They were artsy misfits who dressed exclusively in concert tees and ragged flannels, and it was those brooding qualities that intrigued me more than the cookie-cutter athlete and cheerleader types.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

In the 76th minute, Messi completed his hat-trick, having been teed up by substitute Nico Gonzalez.

From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026

This weaseling is probably the same reason that the court teed up Section 2’s constitutionality in an obscure order issued late on a Friday afternoon in August last year.

From Slate ● Apr. 30, 2026

When PIF recently laid out its vision for the next five years, it made no mention of the league that has divided the golf world since it first teed off in 2022.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026

She’d just teed up her brand-new single, “I Can’t Love You Anymore,” a shimmering roots-soul duet with country’s biggest star, Morgan Wallen.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2026

I’ll figure out what needs to be done to make Pops’s dream come true so that when Nate’s ready, everything will be all teed up for him.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

As of Thursday, two circuits have affirmed the government’s position and six opposed it, teeing up what experts call an inevitable Supreme Court challenge.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

Holy Trinity Tattoo Studio in Standish managed to squeeze Sean in before England took on Norway in the quarter final, teeing up Wednesday night's mouth-watering semi against old foes Argentina.

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026

In other Musk-y news, SpaceX is teeing up some massive spending before its IPO.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026

The path, in short, is to fix airport lines now by teeing up what later could be the biggest legislative fight of the year.

From Slate ● Mar. 24, 2026

Strike three took dead aim at the kid’s knees, and here was the kid, swooping back and at the same time swatting at the ball like a golfer teeing off.

From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli