Tale
Tale (tāl) , noun
See Tael.
Tale , noun
[Anglo-Saxon talu number, speech, narrative; akin to Dutch taal speech, language, German zahl number, Old High German zala, Icelandic tal, tala, number, speech, Swedish tal, Danish tal number, tale speech, Gothic talzjan to instruct. Compare Tell, transitive verb, Toll a tax, also Talk, v. i.]
1.
That which is told; an oral relation or recital; any rehearsal of what has occurred; narrative; discourse; statement; history; story.
The tale of Troy divine.
In such manner rime is Dante's tale.
We spend our years as a tale that is told.
2.
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.
The ignorant,... who measure by tale, and not by weight.
And every shepherd tells his tale,
Under the hawthorn in the dale.
In packing, they keep a just tale of the number.
3.
(Law) A count or declaration. [Obsolete]
Therefore little tale hath he told
Of any dream, so holy was his heart.
Collocations (1)
To tell tale of , to make account of. [Obsolete]
Tale (tāl) , intransitive verb
To tell stories. [Obsolete] — Chaucer