Verb

(lb) To count, reckon, or enumerate.

:

*1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , II.vii:

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

*1875 , Hugh MacMillan, The Sunday Magazine :

*: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.

(lb) To narrate.

:

*, chapter=7

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=“

(lb) To convey by speech; to say.

:

*, chapter=4

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=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.}}

(lb) To instruct or inform.

:

*Bible, (w) xii. 18

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

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud,

(lb) To order; to direct, to say to someone.

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*(Charles Dickens) (1812-1870)

*:He told her not to be frightened.

*'>citation

*: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.

(lb) To discern, notice, identify or distinguish.

:

*

*: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.

(lb) To reveal.

:

(lb) To be revealed.

*1990 , (Stephen Coonts), Under Siege, 1991 (Pocket Books) edition, ISBN 0671742949, p.409:

*: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.

(lb) To have an effect, especially a noticeable one; to be apparent, to be demonstrated.

:

*1859 (John Stuart Mill), (On Liberty)

*:Opinion ought [… to give] merited honour to every one, whatever opinion he may holdkeeping nothing back which tells', or can be supposed to ' tell , in their favour.

*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 18, author=Ben Dirs, work=BBC Sport

, title= Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia , passage=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.}}