tall

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See also: 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]

Adjective[edit]

tall (comparative taller, superlative tallest)

  1. (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.
  2. (of a building, etc.) Having its top a long way up; having a great vertical (and often greater than horizontal) extent; high.
    Antonyms: low, low-rise, short
  3. (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."
  5. (chiefly US, of a cup of coffee) Smaller than grande, usually 8 ounces (~ 230 ml).
    Coordinate terms: grande, venti
  6. (obsolete) Obsequious; obedient.
  7. (obsolete) Seemly; suitable; fitting, becoming, comely; attractive, handsome.
  8. (obsolete) Bold; brave; courageous; valiant.
  9. (archaic) Fine; proper; admirable; great; excellent.

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

  • → Welsh: tal

Translations[edit]

of a story
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)

  1. (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.
  2. A clothing size for taller people.
    Do you have this in a tall?
  3. A tall serving of a drink, especially one from Starbucks, which contains 12 ounces.

References[edit]

  1. ^ 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)

  1. to ridicule, mock
  2. to deride, laugh at

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Orel, Vladimir E. (1998) “tall”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, page 448

Aragonese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin talis.

Pronoun[edit]

tall

  1. such

Breton[edit]

Adjective[edit]

tall

  1. Hard mutation of dall.

Catalan[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Deverbal from tallar.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

tall m (plural talls)

  1. cutting edge
  2. edge (of a page)
  3. cut, slice
  4. cutaway (of a guitar)
  5. (golf) cut

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)

  1. lamb
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)

  1. 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]

Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

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)

  1. number, numeral, figure

Derived terms[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Noun[edit]

tall f (definite singular talla or talli, indefinite plural taller, definite plural tallene)

  1. (pre-2012) alternative form of toll

Old Irish[edit]

Adverb[edit]

tall

  1. there
    Is bec ndi dechur fil etarru siu ⁊ tall. ― There is little difference between them here and there.
  2. then
    amal du·ratsat sacaird tall bendachta forsin popul ― as the priests had blessed the people then

Descendants[edit]

Determiner[edit]

tall

  1. 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

  1. 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]

Anagrams[edit]

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