Tell \Tell\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Told; p. pr. & vb. n.
Telling.]
[AS. tellan, from talu tale, number, speech; akin
to D. tellen to count, G. z["a]hlen, OHG. zellen to count,
tell, say, Icel. telja, Dan. tale to speak, t[ae]lle to
count. See Tale that which is told.]
1. To mention one by one, or piece by piece; to recount; to
enumerate; to reckon; to number; to count; as, to tell
money. ``An heap of coin he told.'' --Spenser.
He telleth the number of the stars. --Ps. cxlvii.
4.
Tell the joints of the body. --Jer. Taylor.
2. To utter or recite in detail; to give an account of; to
narrate.
Of which I shall tell all the array. --Chaucer.
And not a man appears to tell their fate. --Pope.
3. To make known; to publish; to disclose; to divulge.
Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
--Gen. xii.
18.
4. To give instruction to; to make report to; to acquaint; to
teach; to inform.
A secret pilgrimage, That you to-day promised to
tell me of? --Shak.
5. To order; to request; to command.
He told her not to be frightened. --Dickens.
6. To discern so as to report; to ascertain by observing; to
find out; to discover; as, I can not tell where one color
ends and the other begins.
7. To make account of; to regard; to reckon; to value; to
estimate. [Obs.]
I ne told no dainity of her love. --Chaucer.
Note: Tell, though equivalent in some respect to speak and
say, has not always the same application. We say, to
tell truth or falsehood, to tell a number, to tell the
reasons, to tell something or nothing; but we never
say, to tell a speech, discourse, or oration, or to
tell an argument or a lesson. It is much used in
commands; as, tell me the whole story; tell me all you
know.
To tell off, to count; to divide. --Sir W. Scott.
Syn: To communicate; impart; reveal; disclose; inform;
acquaint; report; repeat; rehearse; recite.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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