From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Tell \Tell\ (t[e^]l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Told} (t[=o]ld); p.
pr. & vb. n. {Telling}.] [AS. tellan, from talu tale, number,
speech; akin to D. tellen to count, G. z[aum]hlen, OHG.
zellen to count, tell, say, Icel. telja, Dan. tale to speak,
t[ae]lle 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.
[1913 Webster]
He telleth the number of the stars. --Ps. cxlvii.
4.
[1913 Webster]
Tell the joints of the body. --Jer. Taylor.
[1913 Webster]
2. To utter or recite in detail; to give an account of; to
narrate.
[1913 Webster]
Of which I shall tell all the array. --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
And not a man appears to tell their fate. --Pope.
[1913 Webster]
3. To make known; to publish; to disclose; to divulge.
[1913 Webster]
Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
--Gen. xii.
18.
[1913 Webster]
4. To give instruction to; to make report to; to acquaint; to
teach; to inform.
[1913 Webster]
A secret pilgrimage,
That you to-day promised to tell me of? --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
5. To order; to request; to command.
[1913 Webster]
He told her not to be frightened. --Dickens.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
7. To make account of; to regard; to reckon; to value; to
estimate. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
I ne told no dainity of her love. --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
Note: 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.
[1913 Webster]
{To tell off}, to count; to divide. --Sir W. Scott.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: To communicate; impart; reveal; disclose; inform;
acquaint; report; repeat; rehearse; recite.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Telling \Tell"ing\, a.
Operating with great effect; effective; as, a telling speech.
-- {Tell"ing*ly}, adv.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
telling
adj 1: disclosing unintentionally; "a telling smile"; "a
telltale panel of lights"; "a telltale patch of oil on
the water marked where the boat went down" [syn:
{revealing}, {telling}, {telltale(a)}]
2: powerfully persuasive; "a cogent argument"; "a telling
presentation"; "a weighty argument" [syn: {cogent},
{telling}, {weighty}]
3: producing a strong effect; "gave an impressive performance as
Othello"; "a telling gesture" [syn: {impressive}, {telling}]
n 1: an act of narration; "he was the hero according to his own
relation"; "his endless recounting of the incident
eventually became unbearable" [syn: {relation}, {telling},
{recounting}]
2: informing by words [syn: {telling}, {apprisal},
{notification}]
3: disclosing information or giving evidence about another [syn:
{tattle}, {singing}, {telling}]
|