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Glite Dictionary
🛠️ To prepare ⛳ To place for golf
to tee up

to tee up

1 6.0
To put a golf ball on a tee before hitting it
  • phrasal verb
  • /ti ʌp/
translation icon : colocar en el tee
  • Slate tees up the ball again.
  • teeing the ball up
  • teed up a drive

Examples

  • Before taking his shot, he needs to tee up the ball properly on the green.

  • To get ready for the next swing, she always remembers to tee up the golf ball first.

  • The instructor showed us how to tee up the ball correctly for a better drive.

Synonyms

to tee
vsto tee up
16 7.5

To put a ball on a peg before you hit it in golf

is used specifically to prepare for playing a shot rather than general striking setup

Surface Forms

tee up infinitive
teed up past
teed up past participle
teeing up present participle
tees up third person singular

Morphology

tee + up

The meaning 'to place a golf ball on a tee' follows directly from combining 'tee' (to set a ball on a tee) with the particle 'up' (to raise or place), so the action is compositional and literal. This standard verb + particle pattern is predictable and would be understood by a B1 learner who knows both constituent meanings and basic golf context.

Etymology

Tee up originally means to put a golf ball on a small stand called a tee before you hit it, so the ball is ready to play.