noun
tee
TEE
noun
1
The small peg used to hold a golf ball, or the marked spot where a golfer starts each hole.
"He placed the ball on the tee and took a practice swing."
verb
1
To set a ball up on a tee, ready to be hit; often used figuratively for setting something up to happen.
"She teed off first on the par-5."
"The report teed up the discussion for the board meeting."
2
To split a signal, pipe, or output so it goes to more than one place.
"The command tees the output to a file and the screen at the same time."
How to Use Tee
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishMost often the golf peg/spot, "tee up" meaning to set something up, or (in computing) to duplicate output to two destinations.
Easily confused with
Common pairings
tee off
tee up
tee shot
Word Forms
teed past tense, teed past tense, tees plural, tees plural, tees singular, tees singular
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He placed the ball on the _____ and took a practice swing.
Etymology
The golf sense comes from Middle English, ultimately from the Latin name of the letter T. The computing sense comes from the T-shaped pipe fitting that splits flow in two directions.