Definitions for tale
teɪltale

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:4.0 / 2 votes

1. narrative, narration, story, talenoun

   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

   "his narrative was interesting"; "Disney's stories entertain adults as well as children"

2. fib, story, tale, tarradiddle, taradiddlenoun

   a trivial lie

   "he told a fib about eating his spinach"; "how can I stop my child from telling stories?"

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Talenoun

   Etymology: tale , from tellan , to tell, Saxon.

   1. A narrative; a story. Commonly a slight or petty account of some trifling or fabulous incident: as, a tale of a tub.

   This story prepared their minds for the reception of any tales relating to other countries. Isaac Watts.

   2. Oral relation.

   My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
   And ev’ry tongue brings in a sev’ral tale,
   And every tale condemns me for a villain. William Shakespeare.

   Life is a tale
   Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
   Signifying nothing. William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

   Hermia, for aught I could read,
   Could ever hear by tale or history,
   The course of true love never did run smooth. William Shakespeare.

   We spend our years as a tale that is told. Psal. xc. 9.

   3. [ T t alan , to count, Saxon.] Number reckoned.

   Number may serve your purpose with the ignorant, who measure by tale and not by weight. Richard Hooker.

   For ev’ry bloom his trees in Spring afford,
   An autumn apple was by tale restor’d. John Dryden, Virgil.

   Both number twice a day the milky dams,
   And once she takes the tale of all the lambs. Dryden.

   The herald for the last proclaims
   A silence, while they answer’d to their names,
   To shun the fraud of musters false;
   The tale was just. John Dryden, Knight’s Tale.

   Reasons of things are rather to be taken by weight than tale. Jeremy Collier, on Cloaths.

   4. Reckoning; numeral account.

   In packing, they keep a just tale of the number that every hogshead containeth. Carew.

   Money b’ing the common scale
   Of things by measure, weight and tale;
   In all th’ affairs of church and state,
   ’Tis both the balance and the weight. Samuel Butler.

   Then twelve returned upon the principal pannel, or the tales, are sworn to try the same according to their evidence. Matthew Hale.

   5. Information; disclosure of any thing secret.

   From hour to hour we ripe and ripe,
   And then from hour to hour we rot and rot;
   And thereby hangs a tale. William Shakespeare.

   Birds live in the air freest, and are aptest by their voice to tell tales what they find, and by their flight to express the same. Francis Bacon.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. tale

   A tale is a narrative or story, often involving fictional, folkloric, or mythical elements, that is told or written for the purpose of entertainment, moral instruction, or the preservation of a cultural tradition. It can be short or long and may take various forms such as fairy tales, tall tales, or folk tales.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Talenoun

   see Tael

2. Taleverb

   that which is told; an oral relation or recital; any rehearsal of what has occured; narrative; discourse; statement; history; story

3. Taleverb

   a number told or counted off; a reckoning by count; an enumeration; a count, in distinction from measure or weight; a number reckoned or stated

4. Taleverb

   a count or declaration

5. Taleverb

   to tell stories

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Tale

   tāl, n. a narrative or story: a fable: what is told or counted off: number: reckoning.—v.i. (obs.) to speak.—n. Tale′-bear′er, one who maliciously tells tales or gives information.—adj. Tale′-bear′ing, given to tell tales or give information officiously.—n. act of telling secrets.—adj. Tale′ful, abounding with stories.—n. Tale′-tell′er, one who tells stories, esp. officiously.—Be in a (or one) tale, to be in full accord; Old wives' tale, any marvellous story appealing to one's credulity; Tell one's (or its) own tale, to speak for one's self or itself; Tell tales, to play the informer; Tell tales out of school, to reveal confidential matters. [A.S. talu, a reckoning, a tale, also speech; Ger. zahl, a number.]

Dictionary of Nautical TermsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. tale

   [from Anglo-Saxon tael, number]. Taylor thus expressed it in 1630-- "Goods in and out, which daily ships doe fraight By guesse, by tale, by measure, and by weight."

Editors ContributionRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. Tale

   A short story or narrative.

   The book has many good tales with morals.

   
   

   Submitted by anonymous on February 21, 2019  

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. TALE

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Tale is ranked #88336 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Tale surname appeared 210 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Tale.
   
   59% or 124 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
   19% or 40 total occurrences were White.
   9.5% or 20 total occurrences were Asian.
   7.1% or 15 total occurrences were Black.

Matched Categories

1. • Lie

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'tale' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #4308

2. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'tale' in Nouns Frequency: #1286

Anagrams for tale »

1. leat

2. tael

3. laet

4. late

5. teal

6. atle

How to pronounce tale?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say tale in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of tale in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of tale in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of tale in a Sentence

1. Marie Curie:

   I am among those who think that science has great beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not only a technician: he is also a child placed before natural phenomena which impress him like a fairy tale.

2. Jo Hanks:

   There was a mention of a tale about a cat called Kitty, but I didn't know how far she'd got with it, or if she'd intended to publish.

3. Adrienne Rich:

   The mind's passion is all for singling out. Obscurity has another tale to tell.

4. Spider-Man:

   Peter Who am I You sure you want to know The story of my life is not for the faint of heart. If somebody said it was a happy little tale... if somebody told you I was just your average ordinary guy, not a care in the world... somebody lied.

5. Andrew Cuomo:

   In fact, Mr. President, Shining City on a Hill is Shining City on a Hill -- Mr. President you ought to know that this nation is more a ‘ Tale of Two Cities ’ than it is just a ‘ Shining City on a Hill, ’.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=tale
2. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=tale
3. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
4. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tale
5. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=tale
6. ^ Dictionary of Nautical Terms
   https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/26000/pg26000-images.html#:~:text=tale
7. ^ Surnames Frequency by Census Records
   https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2010_surnames.html