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Bible Dictionaries
Tell
King James Dictionary
or TELL, pret. and pp. told. L. telum L.appello and peal, L. pello.
1. To utter to express in words to communicate to others.
I will not eat till I have told my errand. Genesis 24
2. To relate to narrate to rehearse particulars as, to tell a story. Genesis 37
And not a man appears to tell their fate.
3. To teach to inform to make known to show by words. Tell us the way.
Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? Genesis 12
4. To discover to disclose to betray.
They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. Numbers 14
5. To count to number.
Look now towards heaven, and tell the stars. Genesis 15
6. To relate in confession to confess or acknowledge.
Tell me now what thou hast done. Joshua 7
7. To publish.
Tell it not in Gath. 2 Samuel 1
8. To unfold to interpret to explain. Ezekiel 24
9. To make excuses.
Tush, never tell me. Not elegant.
10. To make known.
Our feelings tell us how long they ought to have submitted.
11. To discover to find to discern. The colors are so blended that I cannot tell where one ends and the other begins.
Tell, though equivalent in some respects to speak and say, has not always the same application. We say, to tell this, that or what, to tell a story, to tell a word, 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. Tell me the whole story tell me all you know, or all that was said. Tell has frequently the sense of narrate which speak and say have not.
TELL, To give an account to make report.
--That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works. Psalms 36
To tell of
To tell on - to inform. You must not disobey I will tell of you if you do. This is a common popular use of the word. To tell on, is quite vulgar as well as improper.
Dictionary of Words from the King James Bible. Public Domain. Copy freely.
Material presented was supplied by Brandon Staggs and was derived from the KJV Dictionary found on his website located at av1611.com.
The unabridged 1828 version of this dictionary in the SwordSearcher Bible Software.
Entry for 'Tell'. King James Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/kjd/t/tell.html.
