tell

verb

1. 1

   Mental senses related to determining, reckoning, or perceiving To determine the number, amount, or value of [something].

   All told, there were over a dozen. Can you tell time on a clock? He had untold wealth.

   And in his lap a masse of coyne he told, And turned vpsidowne, to feede his eye A couetous desire with his huge threasury.

   Well fare the Arabians, who so richly pay The things they traffic for with wedge of gold, Whereof a man may easily in a day Tell that which may maintain him all his life.

   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. 2

   Mental senses related to determining, reckoning, or perceiving To notice, discern. (Roughly, "can tell" means "know" but with a sense of direct perception.)

   I can tell that you're thrilled.

   You can tell you've struck a nerve when even the crowd stops laughing.

   She couldn't tell the words on the chalkboard without her glasses.

   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.

3. 3

   Mental senses related to determining, reckoning, or perceiving To notice, discern. (Roughly, "can tell" means "know" but with a sense of direct perception.) To pick up on a difference. (See tell apart for more.)

   An expert can tell an original from a forgery.

   Can you tell whether those flowers are real or silk, from this distance? No, there's no way to tell.

   Whether she loves me or loves me not / Sometimes it's hard to tell

4. 4

   Social senses of communicating To narrate, to recount.

   I want to tell a story; I want to tell you a story.

   “[…]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.”

5. 5

   Social senses of communicating To convey by speech; to say.

   Finally, someone told him the truth. He seems to like to tell lies.

   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.

   Tell her you’re here.

6. 6

   Social senses of communicating To instruct or inform.

   Please tell me how to do it.

   Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?

   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.

7. 7

   Social senses of communicating To order; to direct, to say to someone.

   Tell him to go away.

   She said she hoped she had not distressed him by the course she had felt obliged to take, and he told her not to be a fool.

   Stability 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.

   The driver remained at his post, while telling fireman Jim Nightall to get down on the track and run back to uncouple the burning wagon from the rest.

8. 8

   Social senses of communicating To use (beads or similar objects) as an aid to prayer.

9. 9

   Social senses of communicating To inform someone in authority about a wrongdoing.

   I saw you steal those sweets! I'm telling!

10. 10

    Social senses of communicating To reveal information in prose through outright expository statement — contrasted with show.

    Maria rewrote the section of her novel that talked about Meg and Sage's friendship to have less telling and more showing.

11. 11

    Abstract senses related to showing or revealing To show, be showing, be revealed.

    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.

12. 12

    Abstract senses related to showing or revealing To reveal.

    Time will tell what became of him.

13. 13

    Abstract senses related to showing or revealing 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.

    Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

    [...] the 4 miles at 1 in 180 up to Sanquhar were mounted with no greater fall in speed than from 65 to 59 m.p.h., after which, possibly as a result of easing the engine or because the strain on steam supply was beginning to tell, the final 3½ miles up at 1 in 200 up to milepost 59½ were surmounted at a minimum of 49½ m.p.h.

    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.

14. 14

    Abstract senses related to showing or revealing (of a fact) To support a certain position.

    Opinion ought [… to 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.

    For these reasons, I conclude that this factor tells in favour of Italy as the proper forum for the litigation between the parties.

noun

1. 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. 2

   informalA giveaway; something that unintentionally reveals or hints at a secret.

   Those whose business it is to verify luxury bags insist, at least publicly, that there’s always a “tell” to a superfake.

3. 3

   archaicThat which is told; a tale or account.

   April 4, 1743, Horace Walpole, letter to Sir Horace Mann I am at the end of my tell.

4. 4

   A private message to an individual in a chat room; a whisper.

noun

1. 1

   A hill or mound, originally and especially in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.

   Succoth is now associated with a large tell situated in the Jordan Valley, Deir Allah.

Forms

plural

tells

past tense

told, telled, tolled

past participle

told, telled, tolled

present participle

telling

third person singular

tells