TELLTALE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Telltale

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/tˈɛltˌeɪl/ Listen

noun

Telltale n.

1.

One who officiously communicates information of the private concerns of others; one who tells that which prudence should suppress.

2.

(Mus.) A movable piece of ivory, lead, or other material, connected with the bellows of an organ, that gives notice, by its position, when the wind is exhausted.

3.

(Naut.)

(a)

A mechanical attachment to the steering wheel, which, in the absence of a tiller, shows the position of the helm.

(b)

A compass in the cabin of a vessel, usually placed where the captain can see it at all hours, and thus inform himself of the vessel's course.

4.

(Mach.) A machine or contrivance for indicating or recording something, particularly for keeping a check upon employees, as factory hands, watchmen, drivers, check takers, and the like, by revealing to their employers what they have done or omitted.

5.

(Zool.) The tattler. See Tattler.

6.

A thing that serves to disclose something or give information; a hint or indication. "It supplies many useful links and telltales."

7.

(Railroads) An arrangement consisting of long strips, as of rope, wire, or leather, hanging from a bar over railroad tracks, in such a position as to warn freight brakemen of their approach to a low overhead bridge.

adjective

Telltale adj. Telling tales; babbling. "The telltale heart."

See images of 'Telltale'

Etymology of 'Telltale'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Telltale" Quotes from Famous Books

... would not have done so had not the measured striking of the clock upon the chimney-piece reminded him that he was expecting a visit from Max. Then a curious change came over his deportment; he stood considering, glancing from the telltale volumes upon the table to the door through which he was presently expecting his son to enter. Then with a secretive look and a shake of the head, "Oh, dear me, no," he murmured very softly; and taking up the books he put them away in a drawer and locked it, and, when ...

— King John of Jingalo - The Story of a Monarch in Difficulties • Laurence Housman

... you to go!" The moment she had said it, she caught herself with a nervous little laugh, and added a postscript of whimsical nonsense to disarm her utterance of its telltale feeling. "Why, I'm just getting you civilized, yourself. It took years ...

— The Call of the Cumberlands • Charles Neville Buck

... with logic frailer than the flowers, To justify a life of sensuous rest, A question dear as home or heaven was asked, And without language answered. I was blest! Blest with those nameless boons too sweet to trust Unto the telltale confidence of song. Love to his own glad self is sometimes coy, And even thus much doth seem to do him wrong; While in the fears which chasten mortal joy, Is one that shuts the lips, lest speech too free, With the cold touch of hard reality, Should turn its ...

— Poems of Henry Timrod • Henry Timrod

... the valley he found a gully which gave access to the water's edge. He descended, located a ford, and crossed. There were cattle-trails through the cottonwoods; he might have followed them, but he feared the telltale shoe-prints. He elected the more difficult route down the stream itself. The South Y.D. ran mostly on a wide gravel bottom; it was possible to pick out a course which kept Pete in water seldom higher than his knees. An hour ...

— Dennison Grant - A Novel of To-day • Robert Stead

... Skippy, how's it working out?" said Snorky at eleven P.M., producing the crackers and cheese, after having blinded the windows and hung a blanket over the telltale cracks of ...

— Skippy Bedelle - His Sentimental Progress From the Urchin to the Complete - Man of the World • Owen Johnson

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