Tell

Pronunciation

• enPR: tÄ•l, IPA: /tÉ›l/
• Rhymes: -É›l

From Middle English tellen ("to count, tell"), from Old English tellan ("to count, tell"), from Proto-Germanic *taljaną, *talzijaną ("to count, enumerate"), from Proto-Germanic *talą, *talǭ ("number, counting"), from Proto-Indo-European *dol- ("calculation, fraud"). Cognate with English tally ("to count"), West Frisian telle ("to count"), West Frisian fertelle ("to tell, narrate"), Dutch tellen ("to count"), Low German tellen ("to count") and förtellen ("to tell, narrate"), Old High German zellen ("to count") (German zählen), German erzählen ("to tell, recount"), Old Norse telja ("to count, tell") (Faroese telja). More at tale.

Full definition of tell

Verb

1. (transitive) To count, reckon, or enumerate.
   All told, there were over a dozen.   Can you tell time on a clock?   He had untold wealth.
• 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.vii:And in his lap a masse of coyne he told,
  And turned vpsidowne, to feede his eye
  A couetous desire with his huge threasury.
• 1875, Hugh MacMillan, The Sunday Magazine:Only He who made them can tell the number of the stars, and mark the place of each in the order of the one great dominant spiral.
2. (transitive) To narrate.
   I want to tell a story;  I want to tell you a story.
• 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 7, “... Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing. Oh, dear, there's so much to tell you, so many warnings to give you, but all that must be postponed for the moment.”
3. (transitive) To convey by speech; to say.
   Finally, someone told him the truth.   He seems to like to tell lies.
• 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 4, I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.
4. (transitive) To instruct or inform.
   Please tell me how to do it.
• Bible, Genesis xii. 18Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
• 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 5, But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud,.... We began to tell her about Mohair and the cotillon, and of our point of observation from the Florentine galleried porch, and she insisted she would join us there.
5. (transitive) To order; to direct, to say to someone.
   Tell him to go away.
• Charles Dickens (1812-1870)He told her not to be frightened.
• 2012-10-25, John Noble Wilford, Neil Armstrong, First Man on the Moon, Dies at 82Stability was restored, but once the re-entry propulsion was activated, the crew was told to prepare to come home before the end of their only day in orbit.
6. (intransitive) To discern, notice, identify or distinguish.
   Can you tell whether those flowers are real or silk, from this distance?   No, there's no way to tell.
• 1910, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price Chapter 1, Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.
7. (transitive) To reveal.
   Time will tell what became of him.
8. (intransitive) To be revealed.
• 1990, Stephen Coonts, Under Siege, 1991 Pocket Books edition, ISBN 0671742949, page 409:Cherry looks old, Mergenthaler told himself. His age is telling. Querulous — that's the word. He's become a whining, querulous old man absorbed with trivialities.
9. (intransitive) To have an effect, especially a noticeable one; to be apparent, to be demonstrated.
   Sir Gerald was moving slower; his wounds were beginning to tell.
• 1859 John Stuart Mill, On LibertyOpinion ought... give merited honour to every one, whatever opinion he may hold... keeping nothing back which tells, or can be supposed to tell, in their favour.
• 2011, September 18, Ben Dirs, Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia, But England's superior fitness told in the second half, with Delon Armitage, Manu Tuilagi and Chris Ashton (two) going over for tries to secure a bonus-point win.

Synonyms

• (enumerate) count
• (narrate) narrate, recount, relate

Antonyms

• (to instruct or inform) ask

Derived terms

Noun

1. A reflexive, often habitual behavior, especially one occurring in a context that often features attempts at deception by persons under psychological stress (such as a poker game or police interrogation), that reveals information that the person exhibiting the behavior is attempting to withhold.
2. That which is told; tale; account.
• WalpoleI am at the end of my tell.
3. (internet) A private message to an individual in a chat room; a whisper.

From Arabic تل (tall, "hill, elevation"), from Proto-Semitic *tall- ("hill").

Noun

1. (archaeology) A mound, originally in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.