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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Tell \Tell\ (t[e^]l), verb (used with an object) [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["a]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.
He telleth the number of the stars. --Ps. cxlvii. 4.
Tell the joints of the body. --Jer. Taylor.
2. To utter or recite in detail; to give an account of; to narrate.
Of which I shall tell all the array. --Chaucer.
And not a man appears to tell their fate. --Pope.
3. To make known; to publish; to disclose; to divulge.
Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? --Gen. xii. 18.
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? --Shak.
5. To order; to request; to command.
He told her not to be frightened. --Dickens.
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. --Chaucer.
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. --Sir W. Scott.
Syn: To communicate; impart; reveal; disclose; inform; acquaint; report; repeat; rehearse; recite.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Told \Told\ (t[=o]ld), imp. & p. p. of {Tell}.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
told See {tell}
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |