tell

name

1. A surname.

noun

Etymology: From Arabic تَلّ (tall, “hill, elevation”) or Hebrew תֵּל (tél, “hill”), from Proto-Semitic *tall- (“hill”).

1. A hill or mound, originally and especially in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.

   “Succoth is now associated with a large tell situated in the Jordan Valley, Deir Allah.”

verb

Etymology: 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, *talō (“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, Swedish tala (“to speak”). More at tale.

1. Mental senses related to determining, reckoning, or perceiving

   “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.”

2. Mental senses related to determining, reckoning, or perceiving

   “I can tell that you're thrilled.”

   “You can tell you've struck a nerve when even the crowd stops laughing.”

3. Mental senses related to determining, reckoning, or perceiving

   “An expert can tell an original from a forgery.”

   “Can you tell whether those flowers are real or silk, from this distance?  No, there's no way to tell.”

4. Social senses of communicating

   “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.””

5. Social senses of communicating

   “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.”

6. Social senses of communicating

   “Please tell me how to do it.”

   “Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?”

7. Social senses of communicating

   “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.”

8. Social senses of communicating
9. Social senses of communicating

   “I saw you steal those sweets! I'm telling!”

10. Social senses of communicating

    “Maria rewrote the section of her novel that talked about Meg and Sage's friendship to have less telling and more showing.”

11. Abstract senses related to showing or revealing

    “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.”

12. Abstract senses related to showing or revealing

    “Time will tell what became of him.”

13. Abstract senses related to showing or revealing

    “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.”