TELL ON • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Tell on

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/tɛl ɑn/ Listen

verb

Tell v. i. (past & past part. told; pres. part. telling)

To give an account; to make report. "That I may publish with the voice of thankgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works."

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."

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Etymology of 'Tell on'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Tell on" Quotes from Famous Books

... other two Lords were gazing at me, with looks from which were banished every expression except that of intense surprise. Regarding this as a sign that the merits of my invention were beginning to tell on them, I ...

— In the Track of the Troops • R.M. Ballantyne

... counted them aloud, add in his mind, and kept on. Fast, hard work, covering upward of fifteen miles, had begun to tell on herd, horse and man, and all slowed down to the call for strength. The fifth time Jones closed in on his game, he encountered different circumstances such ...

— The Last of the Plainsmen • Zane Grey

... times, we warmed ourselves into a wish, that all who remained of the club should meet and dine at the house which once was Horseman's, in Ivy-lane. I have undertaken to solicit you, and therefore desire you to tell on what day next week you can conveniently meet your ...

— Life Of Johnson, Volume 4 (of 6) • Boswell

... dozen times, and every time I come out, here I find you a mile or so nearer to camp. Why, yesterday there were two men up here hunting. I saw them, and so did Doug. They gave Doug the liver of the deer they killed and the heart—so he wouldn't tell on them, I suppose. What if ...

— The Lookout Man • B. M. Bower

... to give a lecture at the Royal Institution on the 21st January next, and I am thinking of discoursing on the Birds with teeth. Have you anything new to tell on that subject? I have implicit faith in the inexhaustibility of the ...

— The Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley Volume 2 • Leonard Huxley

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