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• 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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

The team finale, LIV’s signature event, had been scheduled to tee off in Michigan later this month.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026

They will watch you tee off, and think you look like The Mummy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

DeChambeau sent his tee shot 257 yards but far off to the right into tall fescue grass.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026

As he began his bid to win two majors in the same season for the first time since 2014, McIlroy lurched from the sublime off the tee to the ridiculous on the green.

From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026

Erik finally got up and walked to the sideline to get his kicking tee.

From "Tangerine" by Edward Bloor

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

Either this contains tees, $20 or an egg salad sandwich from the 90s.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

For golf courses this means the greens and tees can be irrigated but the fairways cannot.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 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

The French response was admirable and they edged back in front when replacement Hastoy ran through after being teed up by Attissogbe.

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026

Even though they finished first and second at Augusta National, Scheffler began the day far enough behind that he teed off several groups ahead of McIlroy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 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

The Second Part of Rhetoric 89 That teed up what was to follow: the somewhat hangdog expression of national determination that was, a few days later, to lead to the formal declaration of war.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith

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

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

The domestic interest in the market earned it the nickname of the “Squid Game” market, teeing off the Netflix series of high-stakes risk taking.

From Barron's ● Mar. 6, 2026

The batters were teeing off as if it were the invasion of Normandy Beach.

From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli