[tale] n [ME, fr. OE talu; akin to ON tala talk] (bef. 12c) 1 obs: discourse, talk
2. a: a series of events or facts told or presented: account b (1): a report of a private or confidential matter "dead men tell no ~s" (2): a libelous report or piece of gossip 3 a: a usu. imaginative narrative of an event: story b: an intentionally untrue report: falsehood "always preferred the ~ to the truth --Sir Winston Churchill"
4. a: count, tally b: total