telltale
/ˈtɛlteɪl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.90 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Something that serves to reveal something else.
noun
A movable piece of ivory, lead, or other material, connected to the bellows of an organ, whose position indicates when the wind is exhausted.
noun
A length of yarn or ribbon attached to a sail or shroud etc to indicate the direction of the flow of the air relative to the boat.
noun
A mechanical attachment to the steering wheel, which, in the absence of a tiller, shows the position of the helm.
Example Sentences
- "Your husband is at hand; I heare his Trumpet, / We are not tell-tales, Madam; feare you not."
- "There were some ill-natured people —tell-tales—it seemed, in Tamai; and hence there was a deal of mystery about getting up the dance."
- "Louis tells me that the gossip of the sailors finds its way aft, and that two of the telltales have been badly beaten by their mates."
- "The Chinese girls who saw me yesterday are telltales. I'd better wait till dark."
- "Try to teach your child that there's a time to intervene and a time to mind your own business. Nobody loves a telltale."
- "A railroad company, which has properly erected a “telltale,” or signal board, to give warning of the approach of a train to a bridge and which lights the place at night by an electric light, is not responsible for injury caused at night by the “telltale” to a brakeman who had been passing under it at regular intervals for five weeks, though when injured he was standing upon a new car higher than those before used, and though he ad received no warning from the company as to the danger of standing upon such a car while passing under the "telltale"."
Etymology
From tell + tale, perhaps dissimilated from earlier taleteller, from Middle English tale tellere (literally “tale teller”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Inflected Forms
telltales (plural)
tell-tale (alternative)
tell tale (alternative)
more telltale (comparative)
most telltale (superlative)