TELL ON

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does tell on mean? 

• TELL ON (verb)
  The verb TELL ON has 2 senses:

1. give away information about somebody

2. produce an effect or strain on somebody

  Familiarity information: TELL ON used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TELL ON (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Give away information about somebody

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

betray; denounce; give away; grass; rat; shit; shop; snitch; stag; tell on

Context example:

He told on his classmate who had cheated on the exam

Hypernyms (to "tell on" is one way to...):

inform (impart knowledge of some fact, state of affairs, or event to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "tell on"):

sell someone out (give information that compromises others)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Produce an effect or strain on somebody

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

Each step told on his tired legs

Hypernyms (to "tell on" is one way to...):

affect; bear on; bear upon; impact; touch; touch on (have an effect upon)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

 Context examples 

I am beginning to feel this nocturnal existence tell on me. It is destroying my nerve.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Tell on, Meg.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Fortunately, the weather is so hot that she cannot get cold; but still the anxiety and the perpetually being wakened is beginning to tell on me, and I am getting nervous and wakeful myself.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Much elated with her success, Jo did 'tell on', all about their plays and plans, their hopes and fears for Father, and the most interesting events of the little world in which the sisters lived.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)