tellv. t.[AS. tellan, from talu tale, number, speech; akin to D. tellen to count, G. zhlen, OHG. zellen to count, tell, say, Icel. telja, Dan. tale to speak, tlle 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.(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.()I ne told no dainity of her love. (Chaucer.)()To tell off, to count; to divide. Sir W. Scott.()()v. i.1. To give an account; to make report.()That I may publish with the voice of thankgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works. (Ps. xxvi. 7.)2. To take effect; to produce a marked effect; as, every shot tells; every expression tells.()To tell of. (a) To speak of; to mention; to narrate or describe. (b) To inform against; to disclose some fault of. -- To tell on, to inform against. [Archaic & Colloq.]()Lest they should tell on us, saying, So did David. (1 Sam. xxvii. 11.)n. That which is told; tale; account.()I am at the end of my tell. (Walpole.)n.[Ar.] A hill or mound.(W. M. Thomson.)