ENGLISH
REFERENCE

tee

n. · v.
US //ˈti// UK //tˈiː// tee
  1. 1 golf peg (n.)
    B1 Intermediate Sport

    a small wooden or plastic peg used to hold a golf ball off the ground for the first shot of a hole.

    a small peg, typically made of wood or plastic, from which a golf ball is struck at the beginning of a hole.

    Example

    He pushed the wooden tee into the grass and carefully balanced his ball on top.

    Example

    The professional golfer selected a longer tee to accommodate the specific launch angle required for his new driver.
  2. 2 golfing area (n.)
    B1 Intermediate Sport

    the flat area of grass where a golfer starts playing each hole.

    the designated area of a golf course from which players execute their initial stroke for a given hole.

    Example

    The players gathered at the first tee to begin their morning round.

    Example

    Heavy rain overnight had left the tenth tee somewhat muddy, forcing the tournament organisers to adjust the starting positions.
    • teeing ground
  3. 3 T-shaped object (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    an object or pipe shaped like the letter T.

    a fitting or structural element shaped like the letter T, often used in plumbing or engineering to join three pipes.

    Example

    The plumber used a copper tee to connect the three water pipes under the sink.

    Example

    The structural engineer specified a reinforced steel tee to manage the load distribution at the intersection of the three beams.
  4. 4 clothing (n.)
    B1 Intermediate Informal

    a short way of saying T-shirt.

    an informal clipping of 'tee-shirt', referring to a collarless, short-sleeved cotton undershirt or outer garment.

    Example

    I just threw on a plain white tee and some jeans for the park.

    Example

    The boutique specialised in organic cotton tees featuring minimalist graphic designs by local artists.
  5. 5 to place a ball (v.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate Sport

    to put a golf ball on a tee ready to hit it.

    to place a ball on a tee in preparation for a stroke; frequently used in the phrasal verb 'tee up'.

    Example

    It is your turn to tee your ball and take the first shot.

    Example

    After carefully checking the wind direction, she teed up her ball and took a few practice swings.

    Usage

    Often used with the particle 'up'.
  6. 6 computing command (v.)
    C1 Advanced Technical Computing

    to split a stream of data so it goes to two places at once.

    to use a command-line utility to read from standard input and write to both standard output and one or more files simultaneously.

    Example

    You can tee the output to a log file while still seeing it on your screen.

    Example

    The administrator used the tee command to capture the installation script's progress in a text file for later auditing.
Etymology 1

* From Middle English [Term?], from Old English te, from Latin tē (the name of the letter T). * (computing): By analogy with a T-shaped pipe that sends fluids in two directions.

Etymology 2

First attested in the 17th century as teaz, back-formation from obsolete Scots teaz, later reanalyzed as a plural.

Etymology 3

From Middle English teen, from Old English tēon (which was contracted from earlier tēohan, from Proto-West Germanic *teuhan.

Etymology 4

From Burmese ထီး (hti:, “umbrella”).

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Idioms2 entries
Related words

Last updated June 20, 2026