Chapter Take-in to Tallage of T by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

Tale
(Tale) n. See Tael.

Tale
(Tale), n. [AS. talu number, speech, narrative; akin to D. taal speech, language, G. zahl number, OHG. zala, Icel. tal, tala, number, speech, Sw. tal, Dan. tal number, tale speech, Goth. talzjan to instruct. Cf. Tell, v. t., Toll a tax, also Talk, v. i.]

1. That which is told; an oral relation or recital; any rehearsal of what has occured; narrative; discourse; statement; history; story. "The tale of Troy divine." Milton. "In such manner rime is Dante's tale." Chaucer.

We spend our years as a tale that is told.

Ps. xc. 9.

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.

Hooker.

And every shepherd tells his tale,
Under the hawthornn in the dale.

Milton.

In packing, they keep a just tale of the number.

Carew.

3. (Law) A count or declaration. [Obs.]

To tell tale of, to make account of. [Obs.]

Therefore little tale hath he told
Of any dream, so holy was his heart.

Chaucer.

Syn. — Anecdote; story; fable; incident; memoir; relation; account; legend; narrative.

Tale
(Tale) v. i. To tell stories. [Obs.] Chaucer. Gower.

Talebearer
(Tale"bear`er) n. One who officiously tells tales; one who impertinently or maliciously communicates intelligence, scandal, etc., and makes mischief.

Spies and talebearers, encouraged by her father, did their best to inflame her resentment.

Macaulay.

Talebearing
(Tale"bear`ing), a. Telling tales officiously.

Talebearing
(Tale"bear`ing), n. The act of informing officiously; communication of sectrts, scandal, etc., maliciously.

Taled
(Ta"led) n. (Jewish Antiq.) A kind of quadrangular piece of cloth put on by the Jews when repeating prayers in the synagogues. Crabb.

Taleful
(Tale"ful) a. Full of stories. [R.] Thomson.

Talegalla
(||Tal`e*gal"la) n. [NL.] (Zoöl.) A genus of Australian birds which includes the brush turkey. See Brush turkey.

Talent
(Tal"ent) n. [F., fr. L. talentum a talent Gr. a balance, anything weighed, a definite weight, a talent; akin to to bear, endure, L. tolerare, tollere, to lift up, sustain, endure. See Thole, v. t., Tolerate.]

1. Among the ancient Greeks, a weight and a denomination of money equal to 60 minæ or 6,000 drachmæ. The Attic talent, as a weight, was about 57 lbs. avoirdupois; as a denomination of silver money, its value was £243 15s. sterling, or about $1,180.

Rowing vessel whose burden does not exceed five hundred talents.

Jowett