tell tales

To gossip or pass on (discreditable) information about others, to be a talebearer

tell tales out of school

To reveal confidential matters

tell¹ /tel/

transitive verb (pat and pap tōld, (Scot) teld, tell'd or telt)

1. To utter, to express in words
2. To narrate
3. To disclose or make known
4. To inform
5. To discern or distinguish (with from)
6. To explain
7. To order, direct, instruct
8. To assure
9. To count (votes)
10. To count out (archaic)
11. To bid (goodbye; US)

intransitive verb

1. To give an account (with of)
2. To have an effect (with on)
3. To have weight
4. To make an effective story
5. To give an indication, be evidence (with of)
6. To give away secrets
7. To play the informer
8. To know definitely
9. To have an influence or be evidence (with against)

noun

(esp in card games) an unconscious tic or other physical betrayal of one's thoughts or intentions

tellˈable adjective

1. Capable of being told
2. Fit to tell

tellˈer noun

1. A person who tells or narrates
2. A person who counts votes
3. A clerk whose duty it is to receive and pay money, esp in a bank
4. An automatic cash dispenser (chiefly N American)
5. One of the strokes made by a church bell ringing a funeral knell (also, esp dialect, tailor)

tellˈership noun

tellˈing adjective

1. Effective
2. Significant, meaningful

noun

1. Numbering
2. Narration
3. Instruction, orders

tellˈingly adverb

telling-offˈ noun

A reprimand

tellˈtale noun

1. A person who reports the private concerns or misdeeds of others
2. A tattler (bird)
3. Anything revealing or betraying
4. Any of several indicators or monitors
5. A recording clock
6. A strip of material outside the playing area at the foot of the front wall of a squash court, which makes a distinctive sound when hit
7. One of the lengths of wool sewn or tied on a yacht's sail to indicate airflow (nautical)

adjective

1. Blabbing
2. Revealing, betraying
3. Indicating

as far as one can tell

Judging from information available so far

I tell you or I'm telling you

I assure you, I insist

take a telling

To do as one is asked without having to be told again

tell apart

To distinguish between

tell a tale

To be revealing

tell me about it! (informal)

I know exactly what you mean

tell me another (informal)

Used to express disbelief

tell off

1. To reprimand (informal)
2. To count off and detach on some special duty

tell on (informal)

To betray, inform on or give away secrets about

tell the time

To read the time on a clock or watch

there's no telling

One cannot possibly know or predict

you're telling me ( interjection ; informal)

I know that only too well