Etimology
From Middle English tellen (“to count, tell”), from Old English tellan (“to count, tell”), from Proto-West Germanic *talljan, from Proto-Germanic *taljaną, *talzijaną (“to count, enumerate”), from Proto-Germanic *talą, *talǭ (“number, counting”), from Proto-Indo-European *dol- (“calculation, fraud”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian tälle (“to say; tell”), West Frisian telle (“to count”), West Frisian fertelle (“to tell, narrate”), Dutch tellen (“to count”) and Dutch vertellen (“to tell”), Low German tellen (“to count”), German zählen, Faroese telja. More at tale.
verb
tell (third-person singular simple present tells, present participle telling, simple past and past participle told or (dialectal or nonstandard) telled)
(transitive, archaic outside of idioms) To count, reckon, or enumerate.
(transitive, ditransitive) To narrate, to recount.
(transitive, ditransitive) To convey by speech; to say.
(transitive) To instruct or inform.
(transitive) To order; to direct, to say to someone.
(transitive or intransitive) To discern, notice, identify or distinguish.
(transitive) To reveal.
(intransitive) To be revealed.
(intransitive) To have an effect, especially a noticeable one; to be apparent, to be demonstrated.
(transitive) To use (beads or similar objects) as an aid to prayer.
(intransitive, childish) To inform someone in authority about a wrongdoing.
(authorship, intransitive) To reveal information in prose through outright expository statement -- contrasted with show
Examples
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 payThe things they traffic for with wedge of gold,Whereof a man may easily in a dayTell 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.
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.”
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. Audio
Audio
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.
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.
Can you tell whether those flowers are real or silk, from this distance? No, there's no way to tell.
I can tell you're upset.
An expert can tell an original from a forgery.
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.
Time will tell what became of him.
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.
Sir Gerald was moving slower; his wounds were beginning to tell.
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.
[...] 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 going over for tries to secure a bonus-point win.
I saw you steal those sweets! I'm telling!
Synonym: tell on
Maria rewrote the section of her novel that talked about Meg and Sage's friendship to have less telling and more showing.
Related words
synonyms
(enumerate): count, number; see also Thesaurus:count
(narrate): narrate, recount, relate
(to instruct or inform): advise, apprise; See also Thesaurus:inform
(reveal): disclose, make known; See also Thesaurus:divulge
(inform someone in authority): grass up, snitch, tattle; See also Thesaurus:rat out
antonyms
(antonym(s) of "to instruct or inform"): ask
noun
tell (plural tells)
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.
(informal) A giveaway; something that unintentionally reveals or hints at a secret.
(archaic) That which is told; a tale or account.
(Internet) A private message to an individual in a chat room; a whisper.
Examples
Those whose business it is to verify luxury bags insist, at least publicly, that there’s always a “tell” to a superfake.
Republican Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey said recently that “Israel is the only state in the world whose fundamental right to exist, within any borders at all, is openly denied by other states.” But Israel is the only nation with a “right to exist,” as the phrase is not commonly attached to any other country. And that’s the tell: This is not a legal concept, but a political one, available for broad interpretation and rhetorical weaponization.
I am at the end of my tell.
Etimology
From Arabic تَلّ (tall, “hill, elevation”) or Hebrew תֵּל (tél, “hill”), from Proto-Semitic *tall- (“hill”).
noun
tell (plural tells)
(archaeology) A hill or mound, originally and especially in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.
Examples
Succoth is now associated with a large tell situated in the Jordan Valley, Deir Allah.