tale

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tale

story; an actual or fictitious narrative of an event: He told an exciting tale.

Not to be confused with:

tail – the prolongation of an animal’s rear end: The dog wagged his tail.; the rear part of an aircraft; the side of a coin that does not bear a head or date; someone employed to follow and report the movements of another: put a tail on the suspect

tale

(tāl)

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.

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

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

tale

(teɪl)

1. a report, narrative, or story

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

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

5. tell tales

a. to tell fanciful lies

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

6. tell a tale to reveal something important

7. 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]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

tale

(teɪl)

n.

1. a narrative that relates some real or imaginary incident; story.

2. a literary composition in the form of such a narrative.

3. a falsehood; lie.

4. a malicious rumor.

5. Archaic. enumeration; count.

6. Obs. talk; discourse.

[before 900; Middle English; Old English talu list, story]

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.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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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

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"

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

tale

noun

1. An untrue declaration:

canard, cock-and-bull story, falsehood, falsity, fib, fiction, inveracity, lie, misrepresentation, misstatement, prevarication, story, untruth.

Informal: fish story, tall tale.

Slang: whopper.

2. An entertaining and often oral account of a real or fictitious occurrence:

anecdote, fable, story.

Informal: tall tale, yarn.

3. Archaic. A noting of items one by one:

count, enumeration, numeration, reckoning, tally.

4. Archaic. A number or quantity obtained as a result of addition:

aggregate, amount, sum, summation, sum total, total, totality.

Translations

Spanish / Español

Select a language:

cuento historia relato trola mentira

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

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

tale

(teil) noun

1. a story. He told me the tale of his travels.historia, relato

2. an untrue story; a lie. He told me he had a lot of money, but that was just a tale.mentira, trola

tale

→ cuento

tale

n. [story] cuento; [gossip] pop. chisme.

References in classic literature ?

Yet the old time fairy tale, having served for generations, may now be classed as "historical" in the children's library; for the time has come for a series of newer "wonder tales" in which the stereotyped genie, dwarf and fairy are eliminated, together with all the horrible and blood-curdling incidents devised by their authors to point a fearsome moral to each tale.

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That is the tale of Nada the Lily, my father, and of how we avenged her.

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"Heart" was intended for a much longer tale, and is unavoidably incomplete; but it is unnecessary to point out defects that even the juvenile reader will soon detect.

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And the minstrel who had a good tale to tell was ever sure of a welcome, and for his pains he was rewarded with money, jewels, and even land.

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I may venture to assert the same of every aspect of the story, while I confess that the particular typhoon of the tale was not a typhoon of my actual experience.

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Found in a Bottle" was the winning tale. Poe had submitted six stories in a volume.

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No--that is a thought which comes later; in the beginning he is only proposing to tell a little tale, a very little tale, a six-page tale.

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"Now drink your tea," said the boy's mother; "then, perhaps, you may hear a fairy tale."

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The longest and finest of Chaucer's poems of this period, 'Troilus and Criseyde' is based on a work of Boccaccio; here Chaucer details with compelling power the sentiment and tragedy of love, and the psychology of the heroine who had become for the Middle Ages a central figure in the tale of Troy.

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Then the first thing will be to establish a censorship of the writers of fiction, and let the censors receive any tale of fiction which is good, and reject the bad; and we will desire mothers and nurses to tell their children the authorised ones only.

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And they may unfold a tale of narrow escape, of steady ill-luck, of high winds and heavy weather, of ice, of interminable calms or endless head-gales; a tale of difficulties overcome, of adversity defied by a small knot of men upon the great loneliness of the sea; a tale of resource, of courage - of helplessness, perhaps.

View in context

"Now, my friends," said she, "to wile away the time till the bright moon goes down, let us each tell a tale, or relate what we have done or learned this day.