Tell vs Tale - What's the difference?
tell | tale |
(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.
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*, chapter=7
, title= (lb) To convey by speech; to say.
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*, chapter=4
, title= (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= 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.
That which is told; tale; account.
* Walpole
(internet) A private message to an individual in a chat room; a whisper.
(archaeology) A mound, originally in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.
(obsolete) Number.
(obsolete) Account; estimation; regard; heed.
(obsolete) Speech; language.
(obsolete) A speech; a statement; talk; conversation; discourse.
(legal, obsolete) A count; declaration.
(rare, or, archaic) Numbering; enumeration; reckoning; account; count.
* (John Dryden)
(rare, or, archaic) A number of things considered as an aggregate; sum.
(rare, or, archaic) A report of any matter; a relation; a version.
An account of an asserted fact or circumstance; a rumour; a report, especially an idle or malicious story; a piece of gossip or slander; a lie.
* , chapter=7
, title= A rehearsal of what has occurred; narrative; discourse; statement; history; story.
A number told or counted off; a reckoning by count; an enumeration.
* Hooker
* Milton
* Carew
* 1843 (Thomas Carlyle), '', book 2, ch. 5, ''Twelfth Century
(slang) The fraudulent opportunity presented by a confidence man to the mark (sense 3.3) of a confidence game.
(dialectal, or, obsolete) To speak; discourse; tell tales.
(dialectal, chiefly, Scotland) To reckon; consider (someone) to have something.
As verbs the difference between tell and tale
is that tell is to count, reckon, or enumerate while tale is to speak; discourse; tell tales.As nouns the difference between tell and tale
is that tell is 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 while tale is number.tell
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) ((etyl) telja). More at tale.Verb
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=“
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.}}
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.}}
Synonyms
* (enumerate) count * (narrate) narrate, recount, relateAntonyms
* (to instruct or inform) askDerived terms
* all told * tell against * tell all * tell-all * tell off * tell on * tell-tale / telltale * tell tales * tell tales out of school * tellerNoun
(en noun)- I am at the end of my tell .
See also
* dead giveawayEtymology 2
From (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)Statistics
* 200 English basic words English control verbs English irregular verbs English reporting verbs English verbs with two objects 1000 English basic words ---- ==Norwegian Bokmål==Verb
(head)tale
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl), from (etyl) . Related to tell, talk.Noun
(en noun)- Both number twice a day the milky dams; And once she takes the tale of all the lambs.
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=“A very welcome, kind, useful present, that means to the parish. By the way, Hopkins, let this go no further. We don't want the tale running round that a rich person has arrived. Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing. […]”}}
- the ignorant, who measure by tale , and not by weight
- And every shepherd tells his tale , / Under the hawthorn in the dale.
- In packing, they keep a just tale of the number.
- They proceeded with some rigour, these Custodiars; took written inventories, clapt-on seals, exacted everywhere strict tale and measure