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telling |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: 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. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Telling \Tell"ing\, a. Operating with great effect; effective; as a telling speech. -- {Tell"ing*ly}, adv From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: telling adj 1: disclosing unintentionally; "a telling smile"; "a telltale panel of lights"; "a telltale patch of oil on the water marked where the boat went down" [syn: {revealing}, {telltale(a)}] 2: powerfully persuasive; "a cogent argument"; "a telling presentation"; "a weighty argument" [syn: {cogent}, {weighty}] 3: producing a strong effect; "gave an impressive performance as Othello"; "a telling gesture" [syn: {impressive}] n 1: an act of narration; "he was the hero according to his own relation"; "his endless recounting of the incident eventually became unbearable" [syn: {relation}, {recounting}] 2: informing by words [syn: {apprisal}, {notifying}, {notification}] 3: disclosing information or giving evidence about another [syn: {tattle}, {singing}]
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