tall

adjectivenouncommon in dialogue

United Kingdom//tɔːl//
United Kingdom/[tʰoːɫ]/
United Kingdom//toːl//
Scotland//tɔl//

Having a top that is far up (contrast: deep (having a bottom that is far down' ).) Having great vertical extent (usually reckoned from the bottom of the feet to the very top of the head) when standing. (For instance, somebody with a height of over 6 feet would generally be deemed tall.)

adjective

1
Having a top that is far up (contrast: deep (having a bottom that is far down' ).) Having great vertical extent (usually reckoned from the bottom of the feet to the very top of the head) when standing. (For instance, somebody with a height of over 6 feet would generally be deemed tall.)
Being tall is an advantage in basketball.
Ostriches are the tallest living birds.
Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps,[…], and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.
He′d been packed in with all the other journos, standing out only in that he was taller than most and didn′t make as much noise.
2
Having a top that is far up (contrast: deep (having a bottom that is far down' ).) Having its top a long way up; having a great vertical (and often greater than horizontal) extent.
Tall trees, at least about 30m high.
To him it seemed that the Bornean rainforests, the tallest on Earth, were places that had: 'remained untouched and unchanged since remote geological epochs[.]'
3
Having a top that is far up (contrast: deep (having a bottom that is far down' ).) Smaller than grande, usually 8 ounces (~ 230 ml).
4
Hard to believe, such as a tall story or a tall tale.
"That's tall talk." "Not an inch taller than the truth."
5
obsoleteOld senses that arose before the height-related senses Obsequious; obedient.
6
obsoleteOld senses that arose before the height-related senses Seemly; suitable; fitting, becoming, comely; attractive, handsome.
7
obsoleteOld senses that arose before the height-related senses Bold; brave; courageous; valiant.
8
archaicOld senses that arose before the height-related senses Fine; proper; admirable; great; excellent.

Etymology

From Middle English tall, talle, tal (“seemly, becoming, handsome, good-looking, excellent, good, valiant, lively in speech, bold, great, large, big”), from Old English *tæl, ġetæl (“swift, ready, having mastery of”), from Proto-Germanic *talaz (“submissive, pliable, obedient”), from Proto-Indo-European *dol-, *del- (“to aim, calculate, adjust, reckon”). Cognate with Scots tal (“high, lofty, tall”), Old Frisian tel (“swift”), Old Saxon gital (“quick”), Old High German gizal (“active, agile”), Gothic 𐌿𐌽𐍄𐌰𐌻𐍃 (untals, “indocile, disobedient”). The Oxford English Dictionary notes: "The sense development [of tall] is remarkable, but is paralleled more or less by that of other adjectives expressing estimation, such as buxom, canny, clean, clever, cunning, deft, elegant, handsome, pretty, proper; German klein, as compared with English clean, presents the antithesis to modern tall as compared to tall in early Middle English. It has been conjectured that in the sense 'high of stature' it is a different word, adopted from the Welsh tal in some sense; but the latter is, according to Professor Rhŷs, merely a 16th-century borrowing of the English word (in Owen Pughe's Dictionary erroneously mixed up with the genuine Welsh word tal (“end, brow, forehead”), with which it has no possible connection.)"

noun

1
Someone or something that is tall.
But in the second generation of hybrids (from seed of the first) talls and dwarfs were both present, and in the proportion of twelve talls to four dwarfs.
The industries that best accommodate talls are those that have faced personal injury lawsuits.
Fremantle remains unsure about the status a pair of key talls ahead of a defining clash with Adelaide at Optus Stadium.
2
A clothing size for taller people.
Do you have this in a tall?
3
A tall serving of a drink, especially one from Starbucks, which contains 12 ounces.

Forms

plural: talls
comparative: taller
superlative: tallest

talkative · Tending to talk a lot.talker · A person who talks, especially one who gives a speech, or is…talking · The action of the verb talk.

tall · Having a top that is far up (contrast: deep (having a bottom that is far down' ).) Having great vertical extent (usually reckoned from the bottom of…

tally · Target sighted.Tally · A male given name.tam · Synonym of picul, a unit of weight, particularly in Cantonese…

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.