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Tell   /tɛl/   Listen
verb
Tell  v. t.  (past & past part. told; pres. part. telling)  
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." "He telleth the number of the stars." "Tell the joints of the body."
2.
To utter or recite in detail; to give an account of; to narrate. "Of which I shall tell all the array." "And not a man appears to tell their fate."
3.
To make known; to publish; to disclose; to divulge. "Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?"
4.
To give instruction to; to make report to; to acquaint; to teach; to inform. "A secret pilgrimage, That you to-day promised to tell me of?"
5.
To order; to request; to command. "He told her not to be frightened."
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.
7.
To make account of; to regard; to reckon; to value; to estimate. (Obs.) "I ne told no dainity of her love." 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.
To tell off, to count; to divide.
Synonyms: To communicate; impart; reveal; disclose; inform; acquaint; report; repeat; rehearse; recite.


Tell  v. i.  (past & past part. told; pres. part. telling)  
1.
To give an account; to make report. "That I may publish with the voice of thankgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works."
2.
To take effect; to produce a marked effect; as, every shot tells; every expression tells.
To tell of.
(a)
To speak of; to mention; to narrate or describe.
(b)
To inform against; to disclose some fault of.
To tell on, to inform against. (Archaic & Colloq.) "Lest they should tell on us, saying, So did David."


noun
Tell  n.  That which is told; tale; account. (R.) "I am at the end of my tell."


Tell  n.  A hill or mound.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Tell" Quotes from Famous Books



... had my bearings so that I could either reach the house or a path leading to it. I stretched myself out to rest a few moments, and suddenly the scene was completely shut in by a fog. [Irene put out her hand and touched King's.] I couldn't tell where the sun was, or in what direction the hut lay, and the danger was that I would wander off on a spur, as the lost usually do. But I knew where the ravine was, for I was still on the ...
— Baddeck and That Sort of Thing • Charles Dudley Warner
... called defiance. When she grew up she showed, therefore, the stronger nature of the two, and her father, as was his wont, gave way. He laughed at his little tyrant, whose great delight was to ruffle his thick curling hair. When, in his half-abstracted way, the old gentleman would tell her stones which threatened to end unpleasantly, she would scold him well; but when, from some cause or other, he was really displeased with her, it affected her so much that the impression remained for a long time. Her nature was bright and joyous, but she yearned ...
— Garman and Worse - A Norwegian Novel • Alexander Lange Kielland
... fun of me by all means. You know I get carried away, as you tell me. And your Montbreton—but how silly I am, to be sure. He doesn't belong to us, this man, does he? Oh, if it were one of my family who had done such a thing, such ...
— Rene Mauperin • Edmond de Goncourt and Jules de Goncourt
... he was by now—Lidbetter. Difficult to tell the age of that type, so discreet and equable. He might be ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, February 4, 1914 • Various
... Chamberlain's walk, which, as we have said, was contrived in the upper part of the structure, and formed a sort of external gallery, three persons might be discerned; and to save the reader any speculation, we will tell him that these persons were the Duke of Lennox (Lord Chamberlain), the Conde de Gondomar (the Spanish lieger-ambassador), and the Lord Roos. In front of the great gates were stationed four warders with the royal badge woven in gold on the front and back of their crimson ...
— The Star-Chamber, Volume 1 - An Historical Romance • W. Harrison Ainsworth


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