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.
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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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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.
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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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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Telling \Tell"ing\, a.
Operating with great effect; effective; as, a telling speech.
--
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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,
telltale(a)]
2: powerfully persuasive; "a cogent argument"; "a telling
presentation"; "a weighty argument" [syn: cogent, weighty]
3: producing a strong effect; "gave an impressive performance
as Othello"; "a telling gesture" [syn: impressive]
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, recounting]
2: informing by words [syn: apprisal, notification]
3: disclosing information or giving evidence about another
[syn: tattle, singing]
WordNet (r) 2.0
219 Moby Thesaurus words for "telling":
absolute, accounting, acid, adducible, admissible, agitating,
announcement, armipotent, attestative, attestive, authentic,
authoritative, based on, biting, breathtaking, celebrated, census,
certain, charged, charismatic, charming, circumstantial,
cliff-hanging, cogent, conclusive, consequential, considerable,
conspicuous, conveyance, convincing, corrosive, counting,
cumulative, cutting, dactylonomy, damning, decisive, determinative,
disclosure, disquieting, distinguished, distracting, disturbing,
documentary, documented, driving, dynamic, effective, effectual,
efficacious, electric, eminent, enchanting, energetic, enumeration,
esteemed, estimable, evidential, evidentiary, ex parte,
exceptional, exciting, exhilarating, extraordinary, eye-witness,
factual, final, firsthand, foliation, forceful, forcible,
founded on, galvanic, giving, grounded on, gutsy, heady, hearsay,
heart-expanding, heart-stirring, heart-swelling, heart-thrilling,
high-potency, high-powered, high-pressure, high-tension,
impartation, imparting, impartment, imperative, implicit,
important, impressive, in force, in power, incisive,
incontrovertible, indicative, indisputable, inflammatory,
influential, intoxicating, inventorying, irrefutable, irresistible,
jarring, jolting, maddening, magnetic, marked, material,
measurement, memorable, mighty, mighty in battle, mind-blowing,
momentous, mordant, moving, narration, narrative, nervous, noble,
notable, noteworthy, notification, numbering, numeration,
nuncupative, of mark, operative, outstanding, overcoming,
overmastering, overpowering, overwhelming, pagination, penetrating,
personable, persuasive, perturbing, piercing, piquant, poignant,
potent, powerful, prepotent, prestigious, presumptive, probative,
prominent, provocative, provoking, publication, puissant, punchy,
quantification, quantization, rare, ravishing, recital, recountal,
recounting, rehearsal, relation, reliable, remarkable,
rememberable, reputable, retelling, review, ruling, salient,
satisfactory, satisfying, sensational, sharing, signal,
significant, sinewed, sinewy, slashing, solid, soul-stirring,
sound, special, spirit-stirring, stimulating, stimulative,
stirring, striking, strong, suasive, substantial, suggestive, sure,
suspenseful, suspensive, symptomatic, tale-telling, tallying,
tantalizing, thrilling, thrilly, transfer, transference,
transmission, transmittal, trenchant, troubling, unforgettable,
unsettling, upsetting, valid, vigorous, vital, weighty, winning,
yarn spinning
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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