tell-tale, n. (a.)
(ˈtɛlteɪl)
1. a. One who tells tales (tale n. 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. Whately 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. 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. Also
spec., a small hidden object placed so as to reveal a secret intrusion by its disturbance (see
quots.).
| 1754 Richardson Grandison II. 295, I was very earnest to know, since my eyes had been such tell-tales, if their brother had any suspicion of my regard for him. 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. 1953 Sun (Baltimore) 30 Mar. (B ed.) 26/7 A broken ‘tell-tale’, one of the little devices policemen set in doorways and fire escapes to help them check on burglars. 1968 ‘H. Howard’ Eye of Hurricane iii. 33 After I'd searched..I was well satisfied that nobody had planted tell-tales anywhere..no microphones, no built-in radio transmitters. 1975 B. Garfield Death Sentence (1976) vii. 44 His hands began to sweat: the familiar telltale. 1979 K. Follett Triple viii. 184 There were dozens of ways of planting telltales. A hair lightly stuck across the crack of the door..; a lump of sugar under a thick carpet would be silently crushed by a footstep. |
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 any one 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 travelled or fare due in a cab, etc.; also called
tell-fare; a
taximeter.
g. = tell-tale clock; see 3 c.
h. Building. A piece of glass or clear plastic, often graduated, fixed over a crack in a building to reveal whether there is further movement in the fabric.
i. A light on the dashboard of a motor vehicle which shows when the direction indicator or main-beam lights are in use.
| 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. |
| h. 1938 Times 16 Feb. 14/1 Of the many tell-tales planted by Mr. Harvey only a few are known to have broken. 1972 Besselsleigh & Dry Sandford (Berks.) Parish Mag. Oct., The church council has agreed to the architect's suggestion that a few glass tell-tales should be fixed in some of these cracks. 1976 Daily Tel. 25 Sept. 21/4 They will hold back on the job while they put up ‘telltales’ at strategic points. |
| i. 1962 Autocar Spring 62/2 When any driving lamps are on, a small green warning light appears, and this is supplemented by a blue tell-tale for the main beams. 1966 Guardian 17 Oct. 6/3 The winker tell-tale is..self⁓cancelling. 1970 K. Ball Fiat 600, 600D Autobook xi. 138/1 The high beam indicator is on the dashboard behind a blue screen lens, the parking light indicator behind a green and the direction indicator tell-tale behind another green lens. |
3. attrib. or as adj. a. That tells tales, that is a tell-tale. Now
rare or
Obs. in
lit. sense.
| 1594 Shakes. 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. 1862 Mrs. H. Wood Mrs. Hallib. 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. |