tell

Meaning

Verb

1. To count, reckon, or enumerate.
2. To narrate, to recount.
3. To convey by speech; to say.
4. To instruct or inform.
5. To order; to direct, to say to someone.
6. To discern, notice, identify or distinguish.
7. To reveal.
8. To be revealed.
9. To have an effect, especially a noticeable one; to be apparent, to be demonstrated.
10. To use (beads or similar objects) as an aid to prayer.
11. To inform someone in authority about a wrongdoing.
12. To reveal information in prose through outright expository statement -- contrasted with show

Noun

1. A reflexive, often habitual behavior, especially one occurring in a context that often features attempts at deception by persons under psychological stress (such as a poker game or police interrogation), that reveals information that the person exhibiting the behavior is attempting to withhold.
2. (informal) A giveaway; something that unintentionally reveals or hints at a secret.
3. That which is told; a tale or account.
4. A private message to an individual in a chat room; a whisper.

Noun

A hill or mound, originally and especially in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/tɛl/

Etymology

From Middle English tellen (“to count, tell”), from Old English tellan (“to count, tell”), from Proto-West Germanic *talljan, from Proto-Germanic *taljaną, *talzijaną (“to count, enumerate”), from Proto-Germanic *talą, *talǭ (“number, counting”), from Proto-Indo-European *dol- (“calculation, fraud”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian tälle (“to say; tell”), West Frisian telle (“to count”), West Frisian fertelle (“to tell, narrate”), Dutch tellen (“to count”) and Dutch vertellen (“to tell”), Low German tellen (“to count”), German zählen, Faroese telja. More at tale.

Sentences

Why else would he tell his main rival to prepare for a run ?

Sit on the perch and tell the others what to do .