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tale

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tale

  [teyl] ,
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–noun
1. a narrative that relates the details of some real or imaginary event, incident, or case; story: a tale about Lincoln's dog.
2. a literary composition having the form of such a narrative.
3. a falsehood; lie.
4. a rumor or piece of gossip, often malicious or untrue.
5. the full number or amount.
6. Archaic. enumeration; count.
7. Obsolete. talk; discourse.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME; OE talu series, list, narrative, story; c. D taal speech, language, G Zahl number, ON tala number, speech. See tell 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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tale   (tāl)   
n.  

  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-2 in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

tale 
O.E. talu "story, tale, the action of telling," from P.Gmc. *talo (cf. Du. taal "speech, language"), from PIE base *del- "to recount, count." The secondary Eng. sense of "number, numerical reckoning" (c.1200) probably was the primary one in Gmc., cf. teller (see tell) and O.Fris. tale, M.Du. tal "number," O.S. tala "number," O.H.G. zala, Ger. Zahl "number." The ground sense of the Mod.Eng. word in its main meaning, then, might have been "an account of things in their due order." Related to talk and tell. Meaning "things divulged that were given secretly, gossip" is from c.1350; first record of talebearer "tattletale" is 1478.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Computing Dictionary

TALE
Typed Applicative Language Experiment. M. van Leeuwen. Lazy, purely applicative, polymorphic. Based on typed second order lambda-calculus. "Functional Programming and the Language TALE", H.P. Barendregt et al, in Current Trends in Concurrency, LNCS 224, Springer 1986, pp.122-207.

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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Bible Dictionary

Tale

(1.) Heb. tokhen, "a task," as weighed and measured out = tally, i.e., the number told off; the full number (Ex. 5:18; see 1 Sam. 18:27; 1 Chr. 9:28). In Ezek. 45:11 rendered "measure." (2.) Heb. hegeh, "a thought;" "meditation" (Ps. 90:9); meaning properly "as a whisper of sadness," which is soon over, or "as a thought." The LXX. and Vulgate render it "spider;" the Authorized Version and Revised Version, "as a tale" that is told. In Job 37:2 this word is rendered "sound;" Revised Version margin, "muttering;" and in Ezek. 2:10, "mourning."

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Idioms & Phrases

tale

see old wives' tale; tall tale; tell tales; thereby hangs a tale.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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