Bell vs Tell - What's the difference?
bell | tell |
A percussive instrument made of metal or other hard material, typically but not always in the shape of an inverted cup with a flared rim, which resonates when struck.
* 1848 , Edgar Allan Poe, "(The Bells)"
The sounding of a bell as a signal.
* {{quote-news, year=2011
, date=December 18
, author=Ben Dirs
, title=Carl Froch outclassed by dazzling Andre Ward
, work=BBC Sport
(chiefly, British, informal) A telephone call.
A signal at a school that tells the students when a class is starting or ending.
(music) The flared end of a brass or woodwind instrument.
(nautical) Any of a series of strokes on a bell (or similar), struck every half hour to indicate the time (within a four hour watch)
The flared end of a pipe, designed to mate with a narrow spigot.
(computing) A device control code that produces a beep (or rings a small electromechanical bell on older teleprinters etc.).
Anything shaped like a bell, such as the cup or corolla of a flower.
* Shakespeare
(architecture) The part of the capital of a column included between the abacus and neck molding; also used for the naked core of nearly cylindrical shape, assumed to exist within the leafage of a capital.
To attach a bell to.
To shape so that it flares out like a bell.
(slang) To telephone.
* 2006 , Dominic Lavin, Last Seen in Bangkok
To develop bells or corollas; to take the form of a bell; to blossom.
To bellow or roar.
* 1774 , Oliver Goldsmith, A History of the Earth, and Animated Nature :
* (rfdate) Rudyard Kipling
* 1955 , William Golding, The Inheritors , Faber and Faber 2005, page 128:
(lb) To count, reckon, or enumerate.
:
*1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , II.vii:
*:And in his lap a masse of coyne he told , / And turned vpsidowne, to feede his eye / A couetous desire with his huge threasury.
*1875 , Hugh MacMillan, The Sunday Magazine :
*:Only He who made them can tell the number of the stars, and mark the place of each in the order of the one great dominant spiral.
(lb) To narrate.
:
*, chapter=7
, title= (lb) To convey by speech; to say.
:
*, chapter=4
, title= (lb) To instruct or inform.
:
*Bible, (w) xii. 18
*:Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5
, passage=But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud,
(lb) To order; to direct, to say to someone.
:
*(Charles Dickens) (1812-1870)
*:He told her not to be frightened.
*'>citation
*:Stability was restored, but once the re-entry propulsion was activated, the crew was told to prepare to come home before the end of their only day in orbit.
(lb) To discern, notice, identify or distinguish.
:
*
*:Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.
(lb) To reveal.
:
(lb) To be revealed.
*1990 , (Stephen Coonts), Under Siege, 1991 (Pocket Books) edition, ISBN 0671742949, p.409:
*:Cherry looks old, Mergenthaler told himself. His age is telling . Querulous — that's the word. He's become a whining, querulous old man absorbed with trivialities.
(lb) To have an effect, especially a noticeable one; to be apparent, to be demonstrated.
:
*1859 (John Stuart Mill), (On Liberty)
*:Opinion ought [… to give] merited honour to every one, whatever opinion he may holdkeeping nothing back which tells', or can be supposed to ' tell , in their favour.
*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 18, author=Ben Dirs, work=BBC Sport
, title= A reflexive, often habitual behavior, (especially) one occurring in a context that often features attempts at deception by persons under psychological stress (such as a poker game or police interrogation), that reveals information that the person exhibiting the behavior is attempting to withhold.
That which is told; tale; account.
* Walpole
(internet) A private message to an individual in a chat room; a whisper.
(archaeology) A mound, originally in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.
As an adjective bell
is beautiful.As a verb tell is
(lb) to count, reckon, or enumerate.As a noun tell is
a reflexive, often habitual behavior, (especially) one occurring in a context that often features attempts at deception by persons under psychological stress (such as a poker game or police interrogation), that reveals information that the person exhibiting the behavior is attempting to withhold or tell can be (archaeology) a mound, originally in the middle east, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.bell
English
(wikipedia bell)Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)- HEAR the sledges with the bells —
- Silver bells !
- What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
citation, page= , passage=Referee Steve Smoger was an almost invisible presence in the ring as both men went at it, although he did have a word with Froch when he landed with a shot after the bell at the end of the eighth.}}
- I’ll give you a bell later.
- In a cowslip's bell I lie.
Derived terms
* * bell curve * bellbottoms * bellflower * bell-ringer * bell tower * * bicycle bell * bluebell * church bell * doorbell * handbell * harebell * ring someone's bell * saved by the bell * sound as a bell * with bells onSee also
* alarm * buzz * buzzer * carillon * chime * clapper * curfew * dinger * ding-dong * gong * peal * ringer * siren * tintinnabulum * tocsin * toll * vesperVerb
(en verb)- Who will bell the cat?
- to bell a tube
- "Vinny, you tosser, it's Keith. I thought you were back today. I'm in town. Bell us on the mobile.''
- Hops bell .
Etymology 2
From (etyl) (m). Cognate with (etyl) .Verb
(en verb)- This animal is said to harbour'' in the place where he resides. When he cries, he is said to ''bell'' ; the print of his hoof is called the ''slot''; his tail is called the ''single''; his excrement the ''fumet''; his horns are called his ''head [...].
- As the dawn was breaking the Sambhur belled / Once, twice and again!
- Then, incredibly, a rutting stag belled by the trunks.
tell
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) ((etyl) telja). More at tale.Verb
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=“
Mr. Pratt's Patients, passage=I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.}}
Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia, passage=But England's superior fitness told in the second half, with Delon Armitage, Manu Tuilagi and Chris Ashton (two) going over for tries to secure a bonus-point win.}}
Synonyms
* (enumerate) count * (narrate) narrate, recount, relateAntonyms
* (to instruct or inform) askDerived terms
* all told * tell against * tell all * tell-all * tell off * tell on * tell-tale / telltale * tell tales * tell tales out of school * tellerNoun
(en noun)- I am at the end of my tell .