tall
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English tall, talle, tal (“seemly, becoming, handsome, good-looking, excellent, good, valiant, lively in speech, bold, great, large, big”), from Old English *tæl, ġetæl (“swift, ready, having mastery of”), from Proto-Germanic *talaz (“submissive, pliable, obedient”), from Proto-Indo-European *dol-, *del- (“to aim, calculate, adjust, reckon”).
Cognate with Scots tal (“high, lofty, tall”), Old Frisian tel (“swift”), Old Saxon gital (“quick”), Old High German gizal (“active, agile”), Gothic 𐌿𐌽𐍄𐌰𐌻𐍃 (untals, “indocile, disobedient”).
The Oxford English Dictionary notes: "The sense development [of tall] is remarkable, but is paralleled more or less by that of other adjectives expressing estimation, such as buxom, canny, clean, clever, cunning, deft, elegant, handsome, pretty, proper; German klein, as compared with English clean, presents the antithesis to modern tall as compared to tall in early Middle English. It has been conjectured that in the sense 'high of stature' it is a different word, adopted from the Welsh tal in some sense; but the latter is, according to Professor Rhŷs, merely a 16th-century borrowing of the English word (in Owen Pughe's Dictionary erroneously mixed up with the genuine Welsh word tal (“end, brow, forehead”), with which it has no possible connection.)"[1]
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /tɔːl/, [tʰoːɫ]
Audio (RP) (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /tɔl/
- (cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /tɑl/
Audio (US cot-caught merged) (file) - Rhymes: -ɔːl
Adjective edit
tall (comparative taller, superlative tallest)
- (of a person) Having a vertical extent greater than the average. For example, somebody with a height of over 6 feet would generally be considered to be tall.
- Antonym: short
- Being tall is an advantage in basketball.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps, […] , and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.
- (of a building, etc.) Having its top a long way up; having a great vertical (and often greater than horizontal) extent; high.
- (of a story) Hard to believe, such as a tall story or a tall tale.
- 1870, The Cornhill Magazine, volume 21, page 9:
- "That's tall talk."
"Not an inch taller than the truth."
- (chiefly US, of a cup of coffee) Smaller than grande, usually 8 ounces (~ 230 ml).
- (obsolete) Obsequious; obedient.
- (obsolete) Seemly; suitable; fitting, becoming, comely; attractive, handsome.
- (obsolete) Bold; brave; courageous; valiant.
- (archaic) Fine; proper; admirable; great; excellent.
Derived terms edit
- big and tall
- feel eight feet tall
- feel nine feet tall
- feel ten feet tall
- feel twelve feet tall
- mackerel sky and mare's-tails make tall ships carry low sails
- plain tall
- ride tall in the saddle
- stand tall
- tall-case clock
- tall drink of water
- tall fescue
- tall glass of water
- tall in the saddle
- tall man
- tall meadowrue
- tall nightshade
- tall oaks from little acorns grow
- tall oil
- tall one
- tall order
- tall pawn
- tall pocosin
- tall poppy
- tall poppy syndrome
- tall reed
- tall ship
- tall story
- tall tale
- tall thistle
- walk tall
Descendants edit
- → Welsh: tal
Translations edit
|
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Noun edit
tall (plural talls)
- (possibly nonstandard) Someone or something that is tall.
- 1912, George Francis Atkinson, Botany for High Schools, Henry Holt and Company:
- But in the second generation of hybrids (from seed of the first) talls and dwarfs were both present, and in the proportion of twelve talls to four dwarfs.
- 2009, Arianne Cohen, The Tall Book: A Celebration of Life from on High, page 197:
- The industries that best accommodate talls are those that have faced personal injury lawsuits.
- 2018 June 5, Chris Robinson, “Fremantle Dockers defender Alex Pearce faces fitness test on injured ankle”, in The West Australian[1]:
- Fremantle remains unsure about the status a pair of key talls ahead of a defining clash with Adelaide at Optus Stadium.
- A clothing size for taller people.
- Do you have this in a tall?
- A tall serving of a drink, especially one from Starbucks, which contains 12 ounces.
References edit
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary T, p. 57.
- “tall”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Albanian edit
Etymology edit
From Proto-Albanian *talna, related to Lithuanian tylù (“to become silent”), Old Irish tuilid (“to sleep”), Proto-Slavic *toliti (“to persuade, to make quiet”).[1]
Verb edit
tall (aorist talla, participle tallur)
Derived terms edit
References edit
- ^ Orel, Vladimir E. (1998) “tall”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, page 448
Aragonese edit
Etymology edit
Pronoun edit
tall
Breton edit
Adjective edit
tall
- Hard mutation of dall.
Catalan edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
tall m (plural talls)
Further reading edit
- “tall” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
Estonian edit
Etymology 1 edit
Noun edit
tall (genitive talle, partitive talle)
Declension edit
Declension of tall (ÕS type 22i/külm, length gradation) | |||
---|---|---|---|
singular | plural | ||
nominative | tall | talled | |
accusative | nom. | ||
gen. | talle | ||
genitive | tallede | ||
partitive | talle | talli tallesid | |
illative | talle tallesse |
talledesse tallisse | |
inessive | talles | talledes tallis | |
elative | tallest | talledest tallist | |
allative | tallele | talledele tallile | |
adessive | tallel | talledel tallil | |
ablative | tallelt | talledelt tallilt | |
translative | talleks | talledeks talliks | |
terminative | talleni | talledeni | |
essive | tallena | talledena | |
abessive | talleta | talledeta | |
comitative | tallega | talledega |
Note: the short plural forms from illative onward are almost never used.
Etymology 2 edit
Noun edit
tall (genitive talli, partitive talli)
- horse stable
Declension edit
Declension of tall (ÕS type 22e/riik, length gradation) | |||
---|---|---|---|
singular | plural | ||
nominative | tall | tallid | |
accusative | nom. | ||
gen. | talli | ||
genitive | tallide | ||
partitive | talli | talle tallisid | |
illative | talli tallisse |
tallidesse tallesse | |
inessive | tallis | tallides talles | |
elative | tallist | tallidest tallest | |
allative | tallile | tallidele tallele | |
adessive | tallil | tallidel tallel | |
ablative | tallilt | tallidelt tallelt | |
translative | talliks | tallideks talleks | |
terminative | tallini | tallideni | |
essive | tallina | tallidena | |
abessive | tallita | tallideta | |
comitative | talliga | tallidega |
Norwegian Bokmål edit
Etymology edit
From Old Norse tal (“talk, speech, number”), from Proto-Germanic *talą (“number, speech”).
Noun edit
tall n (definite singular tallet, indefinite plural tall, definite plural talla or tallene)
Derived terms edit
See also edit
- tal (Nynorsk)
References edit
- “tall” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk edit
Noun edit
tall f (definite singular talla or talli, indefinite plural taller, definite plural tallene)
Old Irish edit
Adverb edit
tall
- there
- Is bec ndi dechur fil etarru siu ⁊ tall. ― There is little difference between them here and there.
- then
- amal du·ratsat sacaird tall bendachta forsin popul ― as the priests had blessed the people then
Descendants edit
Determiner edit
tall
- that (used after the noun, which is preceded by the definite article)
- a tadall tall ― that visit
Synonyms edit
Swedish edit
Etymology edit
From Old Norse þǫll. Cognate with Jamtish toll, Icelandic þöll.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
tall c
- pine, Scots pine tree, Pinus sylvestris
Declension edit
Declension of tall | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | tall | tallen | tallar | tallarna |
Genitive | talls | tallens | tallars | tallarnas |
Synonyms edit
Related terms edit
See also edit
Further reading edit
- tall in Svensk ordbok.