Curling, etc. Orig. Sc. [Origin uncertain: perh. orig. the same word as TEE sb.1, from the use of such a mark to define an exact spot.
(A suggested derivation from ON. tjd to show, mark, note, is untenable.)]
The mark, a cross made on the ice and surrounded by circles, at which the stones are aimed; applied also to the ‘jack’ at bowls, and the ‘hob’ at quoits.
1789. D. Davidson, Th. Seasons, Winter, 167. Clim o’ the Cleugh … A slow shot drew, wi’ muckle care, Which settled on the tee.
1812. Sporting Mag., XL. 51. A mark is made at each end [of the rink] called a tee, toesee, or witter.
1820. Blackw. Mag., VI. 572. Each player endeavouring to possess himself of a birth near the Tee.
1885. New Bk. Sports, 100. (Curling) The players who open the game begin by playing short of the tee.
1888. W. Black, In Far Lochaber, ii. I. 66. A trimly kept bowling-green, in which the club-members practise the gentle art of reaching the tee.
b. attrib. and Comb., as tee-shot; tee-drawn adj.
1850. J. Struthers, Winter Day, II. ix. Tee-drawn shots the smooth-lead fill, Or ports are wick’d with hair-breadth skill.
1853. W. Watson, Poems, 64 (E.D.D.). [He] Sen’s up a tee-shot to a hair.
