Definition of TALE

tale

Plural: tales

Noun

  • A narrative or story, often imaginative or fictitious.
  • 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
  • a trivial lie
  • A rehearsal of what has occurred; narrative; discourse; statement; history; story.
  • A number told or counted off; a reckoning by count; an enumeration.
  • The fraudulent opportunity presented by a confidence man to the mark or victim.
  • 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.
  • Number; tally; quota.
  • Account; estimation; regard; heed.
  • Speech; language.
  • A speech; a statement; talk; conversation; discourse.
  • A count; declaration.
  • A number of things considered as an aggregate; sum.
  • A report of any matter; a relation; a version.
  • Alternative form of tael.

Verb

  • To speak; discourse; tell tales.
  • To reckon; consider (someone) to have something.

Examples

  • Don't tell tales!
  • Every high-scoring word on the Words With Friends board told a TALE of strategic tile placement.
  • the Canterbury Tales

Origin / 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.

Scrabble Score: 4

tale: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
tale: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
tale: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 5

tale: valid Words With Friends Word