[Chinook jargon.]
1. A chief; a person of distinction. slang. U.S.
1890. in Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 12 July, 2/3. It was not the best thing for them [Indians] to try to avenge their tyee’s death at that time.
1909. in Cent. Dict. Suppl.
1911. Chambers’ Jrnl., July, 439. Thither when a tyhee [i.e., a wealthy Chinaman] dies, wends a noisy procession.
2. The king-salmon or quinnat (Oncorhynchus chouicha or quinnat). Also attrib.
1902. Jordan & Evermann, Amer. Food & Game Fishes, 151. Chinook Salmon…. Other names by which this fish is known are quinnat salmon,… tyee, tchaviche, and tschawytscha.
1903. Blackw. Mag., March, 373/1. The quinnat, chinook, or ty-hee (chief) commonly known as the Spring Salmon.
1909. Morn. Leader, 6 Feb., 4/4. He caught four and Mr. Bonnell two ‘Tyee’ salmon;… only three other ‘Tyees’ were taken.
