Verb

(en verb)

(archaic) To instruct, train (usually in matters of knowledge).

To communicate knowledge to.

* Spenser

For he would learn their business secretly, / And then inform his master hastily.

* Shakespeare

I am informed thoroughly of the cause.

To impart information or knowledge.

To act as an informer; denounce.

To give form or character to; to inspire (with a given quality); to affect, influence (with a pervading principle, idea etc.).

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=(Gary Younge)

, volume=188, issue=26, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution , passage=WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, but could not prove, and would cite as they took to the streets.}}

* Dryden

Let others better mould the running mass / Of metals, and inform the breathing brass.

* Prior

Breath informs this fleeting frame.

(obsolete) To make known, wisely and/or knowledgeably.

(obsolete) To direct, guide.

(archaic) To take form; to become visible or manifest; to appear.

* Shakespeare

It is the bloody business which informs / Thus to mine eyes.

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.

:

*(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.}}