tee

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)

CIDE DICTIONARY

tee, n. [Cf. Icel. tjā to show, mark.].

 The mark aimed at in curling and in quoits.  [1913 Webster]

tee, n. 

•  A short piece of pipe having a lateral outlet, used to connect a line of pipe with a pipe at a right angle with the line; -- so called because it resembles the letter T in shape.  [1913 Webster]
•  The letter T, t; also, something shaped like, or resembling in form, the letter T.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

tee, v. t. 

 To place (the ball) on a tee; also called to tee up.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

tee, n. = T(1).

tee, n. & v.
--n.
1 Golf a a cleared space from which a golf ball is struck at the beginning of play for each hole. b a small support of wood or plastic from which a ball is struck at a tee.
2 a mark aimed at in bowls, quoits, curling, etc.
--v.tr. (tees, teed) (often foll. by up) Golf place (a ball) on a tee ready to strike it.

Idiom

tee off
1 Golf play a ball from a tee.
2 colloq. start, begin.

Etymology

earlier (17th-c.) teaz, of unkn. orig.: in sense 2 perh. = TEE(1)