Meaning

noun the starting place for each hole on a golf course

verb place on a tee

noun support holding a football on end and above the ground preparatory to the kickoff

originFrom Old English *Tēs(e), but uncertain beyond that. Possibly from Proto-Brythonic *tes (“heat”), which would be in reference to the “boiling” surging water of so much of the upper river, especially at places like Cauldron Snout.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0