tee off


verb(adverb)
  1. golf to strike (the ball) from a tee, as when starting a hole

  2. informal to begin; start

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use tee off in a sentence

  • There are words like 'foozle' and 'tee-off' and 'schlaff' and 'baffy-iron' and 'Glenlivet.'

    Peeps at People | John Kendrick Bangs

Other Idioms and Phrases with tee off

tee off

Start or begin, as in We teed off the fundraising drive with a banquet. This usage is a metaphor taken from golf, where tee off means “start play by driving a golf ball from the tee.” [Second half of 1900s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.