Meaning
Exactly, precisely; used of something that fits, suits or describes a thing perfectly, as in 'the jacket fits you to a T' or 'that sums up the problem to a T'. It typically follows verbs such as fit, suit, describe and work, and is often written informally as 'to a tee'. Neutral in register and common in speech; 'to a tee' is the usual informal spelling. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The earliest known use, cited by The Phrase Finder and Word Histories, is in The Humours and Conversations of the Town (1693), attributed to James Wright: 'which he does to a T'. The best-supported derivation is that it is a shortening of the older 'to a tittle', meaning to the smallest detail, a tittle being a tiny stroke or point in writing; that phrase appears in Beaumont's The Woman Hater (1607) in the same constructions, a century earlier. Competing theories fail on chronology: the T-square is first recorded only in 1785, the golf tee later still, and 'cross the t's and dot the i's' only in 1849. The spelled-out 'to a tee' is recorded from 1771. The tittle theory is the scholarly favourite, but definitive proof is lacking.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- down to a T
- to a tee
- to the T
Usage Examples
- Her impersonation of the headmistress captured her to a T.
- The flat suited us to a T: small kitchen, big windows, no stairs.
- You've described the deadlock to a T; that is exactly how the negotiations stalled.