tee

Etymology 1

From Middle English [Term?], from Old English te, from Latin te (the name of the letter T).

noun

1. The name of the Latin-script letter T.
   The word length, which contains only four sounds l e ng th, is usually spell'd thus, el ee en gee tee aitch. 1773 October, The Monthly Review Or Literary Journal Enlarged
   They have writing samples and examine the back loops of pees and the crosses of tees. 1985, Stephen King, Paranoid: A Chant
   ETA [is spoken] as "ee-tee-ay" instead of "I SPELL Echo Tango Alfa". 2016 CCEB, Communications Instructions Radiotelephone Procedures: ACP125 (G), p. 3-5
2. Something shaped like the letter T.
   angles and tees
3. (clothing) T-shirt.
   Brendan pulled a black pocket tee over his head.

Etymology 2

First attested in the 17th century as teaz, later reanalyzed as a plural.

noun

1. (golf) A flat area of ground from which players hit their first shots on a golf hole.
2. (sports) A usually wooden or plastic peg from which a ball is kicked or hit.
   Pollard, who went into the semifinals with an unsatisfactory 63% return from the kicking tee, turned it around splendidly against Wales and he continued that form despite missing his first attempt in the final. November 3, 2019, Liam de Carme, “Boks, you beauties”, in Sunday Times
3. (curling) The target area of a curling rink
4. The mark at which players aim in quoits.

verb

1. (golf) To place a ball on a tee
   If at any hole a competitor play his first stroke from outside the limits of the teeing-ground, he shall count that stroke, tee a ball, and play his second stroke from within these limits. 1909, Walter J. Travis, Practical Golf

Etymology 3

noun

1. A finial resembling an umbrella, crowning a dagoba in Indochinese countries.