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. zählen, OHG. zellen to count, tell, say, Icel. telja, Dan. tale to speak, tælle 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

He telleth the number of the stars. Ps. cxlvii. 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

Tell the joints of the body. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To utter or recite in detail; to give an account of; to narrate. [ 1913 Webster ]

Of which I shall tell all the array. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

And not a man appears to tell their fate. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To make known; to publish; to disclose; to divulge. [ 1913 Webster ]

Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? Gen. xii. 18. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To give instruction to; to make report to; to acquaint; to teach; to inform. [ 1913 Webster ]

A secret pilgrimage,
That you to-day promised to tell me of? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To order; to request; to command. [ 1913 Webster ]

He told her not to be frightened. Dickens. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To make account of; to regard; to reckon; to value; to estimate. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

I ne told no dainity of her love. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

To tell off, to count; to divide. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To communicate; impart; reveal; disclose; inform; acquaint; report; repeat; rehearse; recite. [ 1913 Webster ]