sb. (a.)
1. One who tells tales (TALE sb. 3 c); one who idly or maliciously discloses private or secret matters; a tale-bearer, a tattler. So, in nursery phrase, tell-tale-tit.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. IV., 2 b. He … was very glad (as tell tales and scicophantes bee…) to declare to the kyng what he had heard.
1597. Middleton, Wisd. Solomon, xvii. 18. Babbling Echo, tell-tale of each sound.
a. 1639. W. Whateley, Prototypes, III. xxxix. (1640), 4. Most men will hate such as complaine of them, and call them tel-tales.
1731. Swift, Strephon & Chloe, Wks. 1755, IV. I. 158. A tell-tale out of school Is of all wits the greatest fool.
1818. T. H. Bayly, To a Tell-tale, in Parl. Lett., etc., 89.
| When I told you my secrets, you know ’twas your boast | |
| They would all be ‘between you and me and the post;’ | |
| But since I can trust to your faith, and my own, | |
| How is it, good sir, that my secrets are known? |
1841. Hood, Tale of Trumpet, iii. Falsehood, or folly, or tell-tale-tit.
1877. Black, Green Past., xxxi. Peace, you chatterer, you tell-tale.
1906. Times, 10 Oct., 5/1. Booksellers … who had failed to receive the library orders … played tell-tale-tit to the Publishers’ Association.
b. transf. A thing that reveals or discloses something not intended to be made known.
1778. (title) The Fashionable Tell-Tale; containing a Great Variety of Curious and Interesting Anecdotes of Kings [etc.].
1829. Scott, Anne of G., xv. This gown may be a tell-tale … help me to pull off my upper garment.
1849. M. Arnold, Memory Picture, 42. Paint those eyes, so blue, so kind, Eager tell-tales of her mind.
c. A name of species of Sandpiper (spec. in U.S.), from their loud cry: see quots.
1824. Stephens, in Shaw, Gen. Zool., XII. 154. Tell-Tale Sandpiper (Totanus melanoleucus). It is a noisy and clamorous species…; it is much dreaded by sportsmen … upon the appearance of anyone it immediately sounds the alarm, and totally frustrates his intentions.
[1876. Black, Madcap V., xxii. That abominable wretch the curlew, for he is a screaming tell-tale.]
1882. in Ogilvie.
1896. Newton, Dict. Birds, Tell-tale, the name long used in North America for Totanus melanoleucus and T. flavipes … from ‘their faithful vigilance in alarming the ducks.’
2. Mech. A device for mechanically indicating or recording some fact or condition not otherwise apparent; an indicator, a gauge.
spec. a. A pointer or the like attached to an organ to show the state of the wind-supply. b. Naut. An indicator near the wheel which shows the position of the tiller; an automatic or patent log; a tell-tale compass: see 3 c. c. A turnstile which registers the number of persons who pass through it. d. A gauge which indicates the pressure of wind, or of steam or gas in a cylinder or the like; also, an apparatus attached to the meter at a gasworks which registers any irregularity in the production of gas. e. A row of cords or straps suspended over a tramway or railway in such a position as to give warning of one’s approach to a bridge or other overhead obstruction (Cent. Dict., 1891). f. An indicator of distance traveled or fare due in a cab, etc.; also called tell-fare; a TAXIMETER. g. = tell-tale clock; see 3 c.
1832. Examiner, 801/2. A contrivance called the tell-tale, which denotes any error in the working of the machinery.
1881. Chicago Times, 4 June. An ingenious machine, called the ‘tell-tale,’ has been introduced recently on the Erie railroad. It registers the speed of trains, when and where they stop, and how long.
1884. C. G. W. Lock, Workshop Receipts, Ser. III. 68/2. Electrical apparatus is eminently adapted for alarms, tell-tales, and time signals.
a. 1801. Busby, Dict. Mus., Tell-Tale, a moveable piece of ivory or lead, suspended in the front of a chamber organ on one side of the keys, by a string, one end of which being attached to the bellows within, rises as they sink, and apprises the performer, in what degree the wind is exhausted.
b. 1815. Burney, Falconer’s Dict. Marine, Tell-tale (axiometre, Fr.), a small piece of wood, traversing in a groove across the front of the poop-deck, which, by communicating with a small barrel on the axis of the steering-wheel, indicates the situation of the helm.
1858. H. Burridge, in Merc. Marine Mag., V. 53. The steering-compass at the wheel, and a tell-tale in the Master’s berth.
c. 1824. Examiner, 552/1. He paid the toll, and went through the piece of machinery called a tell-tale.
d. 1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Telltale,… 4. Gas-making. A device attached to a station-meter to point out any irregularity in the production of gas.
f. 1863. Gaskell, Patent Specif., No. 2989. Improvements in Telltales or Indicators for Cabs, &c.
g. 1832. Babbage, Econ. Manuf., viii. (ed. 3), 55. The instrument, aptly called a tell-tale, informs the owner whether the man had missed any, and what hours during the night.
3. attrib. or as adj. a. That tells tales, that is a tell-tale. Now rare or Obs. in lit. sense.
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., IV. iv. 149. Let not the Heauens heare these Tell-tale women Raile.
1678. Dryden & Lee, Œdipus, III. i. This tell-tale ghost Perhaps will clear ’em both.
1824. [see 1 c.]
b. Applied to a thing: That reveals or betrays something meant to be kept secret.
a. 1577. Gascoigne, Adv. F. I., Wks. (Roxb.), I. 416. This teltale paper.
1579. G. Harvey, Letter-bk. (Camden), 75. This wofull letter with the telltale obligation.
1628. E. Spencer, Brittain’s Ida, II. iii. The thicke-lockt bowes shut out the tell-tale Sunne.
1743. R. Blair, Grave, 508. The tell-tale echo, and the babbling stream.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., xxxvi. These tell-tale articles must not remain here.
1843. Poe (title), The Tell-Tale Heart.
1862. Mrs. H. Wood, Mrs. Hallib. Troub., I. iii. He might have accomplished it better, but for his tell-tale face.
c. That gives notice or warning of something.
Tell-tale clock, a clock with an attachment of some kind requiring attention at certain intervals, by which the vigilance of a watchman may be checked; tell-tale compass: see quot. 1877; tell-tale pipe, a pipe from a tank or cistern which overflows when the contents reach the level at which it is fixed.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Tell-tale shake, the shake [i.e., shaking] of a rope from aloft to denote that it wants letting go.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Tell-tale compass (Nautical). A compass is suspended overhead in the cabin. The face of the card is downward, so that it is visible from below, and enables the captain to detect any error or irregularity in steering.
1879. Nature, 12 June, 145/2. A small ‘tell-tale’ pipe from the cistern…, designed to show when the cistern had been filled.
1890. Times, 21 Jan., 9/3. There should be tell-tale clocks to afford evidence of the punctual discharge of their duties.
