tale

tale  (tl)

n.

1. A recital of events or happenings; a report or revelation: told us a long tale of woe.

2. A malicious story, piece of gossip, or petty complaint.

3. A deliberate lie; a falsehood.

4. A narrative of real or imaginary events; a story.

5. Archaic A tally or reckoning; a total.

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[Middle English, from Old English talu; see del-² in Indo-European roots.]

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tale [teɪl]

n

1. a report, narrative, or story

2. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) one of a group of short stories connected by an overall narrative framework

3.

a.  a malicious or meddlesome rumour or piece of gossip to bear tales against someone

b.  (in combination) talebearer taleteller

4. a fictitious or false statement

tell tales

a.  to tell fanciful lies

b.  to report malicious stories, trivial complaints, etc., esp to someone in authority

tell a tale to reveal something important

tell its own tale to be self-evident

8. Archaic

a.  a number; amount

b.  computation or enumeration

9. an obsolete word for talk

[Old English talu list; related to Old Frisian tele talk, Old Saxon, Old Norse tala talk, number, Old High German zala number]

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Tale a number of things; a list or series; a tally or total.

Examples: an exact tale of the dead bodies, 1722; tale of fair children, 1864; goodly tale of folios, 1826; of lambs (the total number), 1697; tale of oysters (quantity by which they are sold), 1594; of good works, 1732.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	tale - 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" narration, narrative, story tearjerker - an excessively sentimental narrative subject matter, content, message, substance - what a communication that is about something is about tall tale - an improbable (unusual or incredible or fanciful) story folk tale, folktale - a tale circulated by word of mouth among the common folk sob story, sob stuff - a sentimental story (or drama) of personal distress; designed to arouse sympathy fairy story, fairy tale, fairytale - a story about fairies; told to amuse children nursery rhyme - a tale in rhymed verse for children
	2.	tale - a trivial lie; "he told a fib about eating his spinach"; "how can I stop my child from telling stories?" fib, taradiddle, tarradiddle, story lie, prevarication - a statement that deviates from or perverts the truth cock-and-bull story, fairy story, fairy tale, fairytale, song and dance - an interesting but highly implausible story; often told as an excuse

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tale

noun

1. story, narrative, anecdote, account, relation, novel, legend, fiction, romance, saga, short story, yarn (informal), fable, narration, conte (French), spiel (informal), urban myth, urban legend a collection of poems and folk tales

2. lie, fabrication, falsehood, fib, untruth, spiel (informal), tall story (informal), rigmarole, cock-and-bull story (informal) He's always ready to spin a tall tale about the one that got away.

Quotations
"And so 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 As You Like It]

Proverbs
"A tale never loses in the telling"

Translations

tale [teɪl] N

1. (= story) → cuento m, historia f
he told us the tale of his adventures → nos contó sus aventuras
he had quite a tale to tell → vaya historia que tenía para contar
it tells its own tale → habla por sí solo
"Tales of King Arthur" → Leyendas fpl del Rey Arturo
sound the alarm, or we shan't live to tell the tale → toca el timbre, o no salimos vivos de esto, toca el timbre, o no lo contamos
few people get caught in an avalanche and live to tell the tale → muy poca gente sobrevive una avalancha
see also fairy, hang B1
see also woe

2. (= fabrication) → cuento m, patraña f
to tell tales (out of school) (= inform) → chivarse, chismear; (= fib) → contar cuentos
see also old C

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tale [ˈteɪl] n

(= story) → conte m, histoire f

(= account) → récit m

(= lie) → histoire f
to tell tales about sb → raconter des histoires sur qn

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tale

n

→ Geschichte f; (Liter) → Erzählung f; Tales of King Arthur → Artussagen pl; he had quite a tale to tell → er hatte einiges zu erzählen, der hatte vielleicht was zu erzählen (inf); I bet he/that bed could tell a tale or two (inf) → er/das Bett könnte bestimmt so einiges erzählen; it tells its own tale → das spricht für sich; at least he lived to tell the tale → zumindest hat er die Sache überlebt; thereby hangs a tale → das ist eine lange Geschichte; I’ve heard a fine tale about you (iro) → von dir hört man ja schöne Geschichten!

to tell tales → petzen (inf) (→ to +dat); (dated: = fib) → flunkern; to tell tales out of school (inf) → aus der Schule plaudern; to tell tales about somebody → jdn verpetzen (inf) → (to bei)

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tale:

tale-teller

n (Sch) → Petzer(in) m(f) (inf)

tale-telling

n (Sch) → Petzerei f (inf)

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tale [teɪl] n (gen) → storia; (story) → racconto; (legend) → leggenda (pej) → fandonia
to tell tales (inform) → fare la spia (lies) → dire bugie
he told us the tale of his escape → ci ha raccontato la storia della sua fuga

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tale [teɪl] n (gen) → storia; (story) → racconto; (legend) → leggenda (pej) → fandonia
to tell tales (inform) → fare la spia (lies) → dire bugie
he told us the tale of his escape → ci ha raccontato la storia della sua fuga

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tale

n tale [teil]

1 a story He told me the tale of his travels. verhaal حِكايَه، قِصَّه приказка vyprávění beretning die Geschichte ιστορία, αφήγηση historia, relato jutt, lugu داستان kertomus conte, récit סִיפּוּר कहानी priča, pripovjest történet kisah saga, frásögn storia, resoconto 話 이야기 istorija, pasakojimas, pasaka stāsts cerita verhaal fortelling, historie opowiadanie história poveste, basm история; рассказ príbeh, historka zgodba priča berättelse, historia นิทาน öykü, masal 故事 історія کہاني câu chuyện 故事

2 an untrue story; a lie He told me he had a lot of money, but that was just a tale. storie كِذْبَه измислица smyšlenka; lež skrøne das Märchen παραμύθι mentira, trola väljamõeldis شایعه taru histoire שֶׁקֶר अफवाह bajka, izmišljotina mese kebohongan lygasaga, uppspuni bugia, frottola 嘘 허위 pramanas izdomājums; pasakas bohong leugen skrøne; løgn bujda mentira născocire выдумки výmysel; klamstvo pravljica laž lögn[] เรื่องโกหก yalan, maval 荒誕故事；謊言 вигадка, побрехенька افسانہ chuyện bịa đặt 荒诞故事；谎言

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tale → حكاية příběh fortælling Erzählung μύθος cuento tarina récit priča storia 話 이야기 sprookje historie opowieść conto сказка berättelse เรื่องเล่า masal câu chuyện 故事