Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary полностью

12 CONVENTION You can say ' I tell you ', ' I can tell you ', or ' I can't tell you ' to add emphasis to what you are saying. [INFORMAL , EMPHASIS ] □  I tell you this, I will not rest until that day has come. □  This little letter gave us a few chuckles, I can tell you.

13 CONVENTION If you say ' You never can tell ', you mean that the future is always uncertain and it is never possible to know exactly what will happen. □  You never can tell what life is going to bring you.

14 CONVENTION If someone disagrees with you or refuses to do what you suggest and you are eventually proved to be right, you can say ' I told you so '. [INFORMAL ] □  If she failed, her mother would say, 'I told you so.'

15 CONVENTION You use I'll tell you what or I tell you what to introduce a suggestion or a new topic of conversation. [SPOKEN ] □  I tell you what, I'll bring the water in a separate glass.

16to tell the time → see time

17time will tell → see time

▸  tell apart PHRASAL VERB If you can tell people or things apart , you are able to recognize the differences between them and can therefore identify each of them. □ [V n P ] The almost universal use of flavourings makes it hard to tell the products apart.

▸  tell off PHRASAL VERB If you tell someone off , you speak to them angrily or seriously because they have done something wrong. □ [V n P ] He never listened to us when we told him off. □ [be V -ed + for ] I'm always being told off for being so awkward. □ [V P n] Dutch police told off two of the gang, aged 10 and 11.

▸  tell on PHRASAL VERB If you tell on someone, you give information about them to a person in authority, especially if they have done something wrong. [INFORMAL ] □ [V P n] Never mind, I won't tell on you. □ [V n P n] I'll tell my mummy on you. USAGE tell

Don’t use ‘to’ after tell . Don’t say, for example ‘ He told to me that he was sorry .’ □  He told me that he was sorry.

tell|er /te lə ^r / (tellers ) N‑COUNT A teller is someone who works in a bank and who customers pay money to or get money from. [mainly AM or SCOTTISH ]

tell|ing /te l I ŋ/ (tellings )

1 N‑VAR The telling of a story or of something that has happened is the reporting of it to other people. □ [+ of ] Herbert sat quietly through the telling of this saga.

2 ADJ If something is telling , it shows the true nature of a person or situation. □  How a man shaves may be a telling clue to his age. ●  tell|ing|ly ADV [ADV with v] □  The house received nearly 300 'customers' a year, as he tellingly called them.

3 ADJ [usu ADJ n] A telling argument or criticism is a very effective one. □  The most telling condemnation of the system was that it failed to fulfil its function.

4 PHRASE You use there's no telling to introduce a statement when you want to say that it is impossible to know what will happen in a situation. □  There's no telling how long the talks could drag on.

te lling-o ff (tellings-off ) also telling off N‑COUNT [usu sing] If you give someone a telling-off , you tell them that you are very angry with them about something they have done. [INFORMAL ] □ [+ for ] I got a severe telling off for not phoning him.

te ll-tale also telltale ADJ [ADJ n] Something that is described as telltale gives away information, often about something bad that would otherwise not be noticed. □  Only occasionally did the telltale redness around his eyes betray the fatigue he was suffering.