GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English
last match results
Found 2 definitions
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Tell (tĕl), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Told (tōld); p. pr. & vb. n. Telling.] [AS. tellan, from talu tale, number, speech; akin to D. tellen to count, G. zählen, OHG. zellen to count, tell, say, Icel. telja, Dan. tale to speak, tælle to count. See Tale that which is told.]
1. To mention one by one, or piece by piece; to recount; to enumerate; to reckon; to number; to count; as, “to tell money”. “An heap of coin he told.” Spenser.
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He telleth the number of the stars. Ps. cxlvii. 4.
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Tell the joints of the body. Jer. Taylor.
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2. To utter or recite in detail; to give an account of; to narrate.
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Of which I shall tell all the array. Chaucer.
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And not a man appears to tell their fate. Pope.
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3. To make known; to publish; to disclose; to divulge.
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Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? Gen. xii. 18.
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4. To give instruction to; to make report to; to acquaint; to teach; to inform.
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A secret pilgrimage,
That you to-day promised to tell me of? Shak.
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5. To order; to request; to command.
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He told her not to be frightened. Dickens.
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6. To discern so as to report; to ascertain by observing; to find out; to discover; as, “I can not tell where one color ends and the other begins”.
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7. To make account of; to regard; to reckon; to value; to estimate. [Obs.]
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I ne told no dainity of her love. Chaucer.
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☞ Tell, though equivalent in some respect to speak and say, has not always the same application. We say, to tell truth or falsehood, to tell a number, to tell the reasons, to tell something or nothing; but we never say, to tell a speech, discourse, or oration, or to tell an argument or a lesson. It is much used in commands; as, “tell me the whole story; tell me all you know”.
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To tell off, to count; to divide. Sir W. Scott.
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Syn. -- To communicate; impart; reveal; disclose; inform; acquaint; report; repeat; rehearse; recite.
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Told (tōld), imp. & p. p. of Tell.
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