'To tell off' definitions:
Definition of 'To tell off'
From: GCIDE
- Tell \Tell\ (t[e^]l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Told (t[=o]ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Telling.] [AS. tellan, from talu tale, number, speech; akin to D. tellen to count, G. z[aum]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. [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]
- 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. [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]