(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
A ~ is a story, often involving magic or exciting events.
...a collection of stories, poems and folk ~s...
N-COUNT; N-IN-NAMES
2.
You can refer to an interesting, exciting, or dramatic account of a real event as a ~.
The media have been filled with ~s of horror and loss resulting from Monday’s earthquake.
= story
N-COUNT: usu with supp, oft N of n
3.
see also fairy ~ , old wives’ ~ , tall ~
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 ~.
You lived to tell the ~ this time but who knows how far you can push your luck.
PHRASE: V inflects
5.
If someone tells ~s 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 ~s about my colleague.
PHRASE: V inflects
see also tell-~