[f. TELL v. + -ING2.] That tells; effective, forcible, striking.
1852. J. A. Roebuck, Hist. Whig Ministry, II. i. 129. This observation … was … what is called in debating language, a telling reply.
1859. De Quincey, Wks., XI. Pref. 18. Into this great chef-d’œuvre of Milton, it was no doubt Johnson’s secret determination to send a telling shot at parting.
1870. Stanhope, Hist. Reign Anne (1872), I. i. 28. It was drawn up with telling force.
1903. Times, Lit. Supp., 8 May, 143/1. He is master of a singularly lucid, nervous, and telling style.
1908. Hildegarde Hawthorne, Women & other Women, 143. But your herald tidings are received with a sniff of contempt, a telling glance at the window, a silent scorn.
Hence Tellingly adv., effectively.
1860. Thackeray, Round. Papers, Notes Week’s Holiday. How tellingly the cool lights and warm shadows are made to contrast.
1875. Whitney, Life Lang., xiv. 299. A curious fact, and one tellingly illustrative.
1884. ‘Sarah Tytler,’ Beauty & the Beast, III. xxxiii. 109. He descanted, all the more tellingly that it was with modesty and sincerity, on the true glory of his profession, its adventures, exposure, self-denial, and self-sacrifice.
