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Tale
Definitions
- 1 A rehearsal of what has occurred; narrative; discourse; statement; history; story.
"the Canterbury Tales"
- 2 Alternative form of tael. alt-of, alternative
- 3 a trivial lie wordnet
- 4 A number told or counted off; a reckoning by count; an enumeration.
"the ignorant, […] who measure by tale, and not by weight"
- 5 a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program wordnet
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- 6 The fraudulent opportunity presented by a confidence man to the mark or victim. slang
- 7 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.
"Don't tell tales!"
- 8 Number; tally; quota. obsolete
"And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God."
- 9 Account; estimation; regard; heed. obsolete
- 10 Speech; language. obsolete
- 11 A speech; a statement; talk; conversation; discourse. obsolete
- 12 A count; declaration. obsolete
- 13 A number of things considered as an aggregate; sum. archaic, rare
- 14 A report of any matter; a relation; a version. archaic, rare
"[…] birds […] are aptest by their voice to tell tales what they find; and likewise by the motion of their flight to express the same."
- 1 To speak; discourse; tell tales. dialectal, obsolete
- 2 To reckon; consider (someone) to have something. Scotland, dialectal
Etymology
From Middle English tale, from Old English talu (“tale, series, calculation”), from Proto-West Germanic *talu, from Proto-Germanic *talō (“calculation, number”), from Proto-Indo-European *del- (“to reckon, count”). Cognate with West Frisian taal (“speech, language”), Dutch taal (“language, speech”), German Zahl (“number, figure”), Danish tale (“speech”), Icelandic tala (“speech, talk, discourse, number, figure”), Latin dolus (“guile, deceit, fraud”), Ancient Greek δόλος (dólos, “wile, bait”), Albanian ndjell (“to lure”), Northern Kurdish til (“finger”), Old Armenian տող (toł, “row”). Related to tell, talk.
From Middle English talen, from Old English talian (“to count, calculate, reckon”), from Proto-West Germanic *talōn, from Proto-Germanic *talōną (“to count”), from Proto-Indo-European *del- (“to count, reckon, aim, calculate, adjust”). Cognate with Dutch talen (“to long, care”), German zahlen (“to pay”), Swedish tala (“to speak, talk”), Icelandic tala (“to talk”).
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Unscramble this word: tale