tee off

tee off idiom
  1. 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]
  2. Make angry or irritated, as in That rude comment teed him off, or I was teed off because it rained all weekend. [Slang; mid-1900s] Also see tick off.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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