TALE


Meaning of TALE in English

transcription, транскрипция: [ teɪl ]

( tales)

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.

1.

A tale is a story, often involving magic or exciting events.

...a collection of stories, poems and folk tales...

N-COUNT ; N-IN-NAMES

2.

You can refer to an interesting, exciting, or dramatic account of a real event as a tale .

The media have been filled with tales of horror and loss resulting from Monday’s earthquake.

= story

N-COUNT : usu with supp , oft N of n

3.

see also fairy tale , old wives’ tale , tall tale

4.

If you survive a dangerous or frightening experience and so are able to tell people about it afterwards, you can say that you lived to tell the tale .

You lived to tell the tale this time but who knows how far you can push your luck.

PHRASE : V inflects

5.

If someone tells tales about you, they tell other people things about you which are untrue or which you wanted to be kept secret.

I hesitated, not wanting to tell tales about my colleague.

PHRASE : V inflects

see also tell-tale

Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary.      Английский словарь Коллинз COBUILD для изучающих язык на продвинутом уровне.