Definition of tells in English

Part of speech

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tells, verb, present, 3rd person singular of tell (infinitive).
tells, noun, plural of tell.

WordNet

Noun
tell - a Swiss patriot who lived in the early 14th century and who was renowned for his skill as an archer; according to legend an Austrian governor compelled him to shoot an apple from his son's head with his crossbow (which he did successfully without mishap)
		William Tell
Verb tells, telling, told
tell - narrate or give a detailed account of; "Tell what happened"; "The father told a story to his child"
		narrate, recount, recite
		inform give character or essence to; "The principles that inform modern teaching"
		relate give an account of; "The witness related the events"
		crack break into simpler molecules by means of heat; "The petroleum cracked"
		yarn tell or spin a yarn
		rhapsodise, rhapsodize say (something) with great enthusiasm
tell - let something be known; "Tell them that you will be late"
		inform give character or essence to; "The principles that inform modern teaching"
		brush down, tell off reprimand; "She told the misbehaving student off"
		divagate, digress, stray, wander lose clarity or turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument in writing, thinking, or speaking; "She always digresses when telling a story"; "her mind wanders"; "Don't digress when you give a lecture"
		bespeak, betoken, signal, indicate, point be a signal for or a symptom of; "These symptoms indicate a serious illness"; "Her behavior points to a severe neurosis"; "The economic indicators signal that the euro is undervalued"
		divulge, let on, unwrap, disclose, reveal, let out, give away, discover, expose, bring out, break make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret; "The auction house would not disclose the price at which the van Gogh had sold"; "The actress won't reveal how old she is"; "bring out the truth"; "he broke the news to her"; "unwrap the evidence in the murder case"
		spill, talk reduce the pressure of wind on (a sail)
		publicise, publicize, bare, air make public; "She aired her opinions on welfare"
		ingeminate, reiterate, restate, iterate, retell, repeat run or be performed again; "the function iterates"
		propagandise, propagandize spread by propaganda
		annunciate, harbinger, foretell, herald, announce announce publicly or officially; "The President declared war"
		impart, pass on, leave, give transmit or serve as the medium for transmission; "Sound carries well over water"; "The airwaves carry the sound"; "Many metals conduct heat"
tell - give evidence; "he was telling on all his former colleague"
		evidence
		inform give character or essence to; "The principles that inform modern teaching"
		discern, pick out, tell apart, distinguish, spot, recognise, recognize, make out mark as different; "We distinguish several kinds of maple"
tell - discern or comprehend; "He could tell that she was unhappy"
		guess, infer guess correctly; solve by guessing; "He guessed the right number of beans in the jar and won the prize"

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Wiktionary

tell (Noun)
A reflexive, often habitual behavior, 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.
tell (Noun)
A mound, originally in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.
tell (Verb)
To count, reckon, or enumerate.
tell (Verb)
To narrate.
tell (Verb)
To convey by speech; to say.
tell (Verb)
To instruct or inform.
tell (Verb)
To order; to direct, to say to someone.
tell (Verb)
To discern, notice, identify or distinguish.
tell (Verb)
To reveal.
tell (Verb)
To be revealed.
tell (Verb)
To have an effect, especially a noticeable one; to be apparent, to be demonstrated.

Webster DictionaryWebster's Unabridged Dictionary 📘

tell (v. t.)
To mention one by one, or piece by piece; to recount; to enumerate; to reckon; to number; to count; as, to tell money.
tell (v. t.)
To utter or recite in detail; to give an account of; to narrate.
tell (v. t.)
To make known; to publish; to disclose; to divulge.
tell (v. t.)
To give instruction to; to make report to; to acquaint; to teach; to inform.
tell (v. t.)
To order; to request; to command.
tell (v. t.)
To discern so as to report; to ascertain by observing; to find out; to discover; as, I can not tell where one color ends and the other begins.
tell (v. t.)
To make account of; to regard; to reckon; to value; to estimate.
tell (v. i.)
To give an account; to make report.
tell (v. i.)
To take effect; to produce a marked effect; as, every shot tells; every expression tells.
tell (n.)
That which is told; tale; account.
tell (n.)
A hill or mound.

OmegaWiki DictionaryOmegaWiki Dictionary Ω

tell
To communicate orally, using a particular language; to express in words.
tell
To talk about a story giving its details; to give a detailed account of.
tell
To see someone or something as different from others; to discern or comprehend.
tell
To give instructions to or direct somebody to do something with authority.
tell
To give information; to let something be known.

Chambers DictionaryChamber's 20th Century Dictionary 📕

tell
tel, v.t. to number or give an account of: to utter: to narrate: to disclose: to inform: to discern: to explain.—v.i. to give an account: to produce or take effect: to chat, gossip: to tell tales, play the informer:—pa.t. and pa.p. tōld.—adj. Tell′able, capable of being told.—ns. Tell′er, one who tells or counts: a clerk whose duty it is to receive and pay money; Tell′ership, the office of a teller.—p.adj. Tell′ing, having great effect.—adv. Tell′ingly, in a telling or effective manner.—n. Tell′-tale, one who tells tales: one who officiously tells the private concerns of others: an indication or an indicator, as an automatic instrument: a bird of genus Totanus, a tattler.—adj. given to reveal secrets, blabbing: apparent, openly seen: giving warning.—Tell off, to count off: to detach on some special duty. [A.S. tellan; Ice. telja, Ger. zählen, to number.]