tale
    n 1: a message that tells the particulars of an act or
         occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or
         drama or cinema or as a radio or television program; "his
         narrative was interesting"; "Disney's stories entertain
         adults as well as children" [syn: narrative, narration,
         story, tale]
    2: a trivial lie; "he told a fib about eating his spinach"; "how
       can I stop my child from telling stories?" [syn: fib,
       story, tale, tarradiddle, taradiddle]

Tale \Tale\ (t[=a]l), n.
   See Tael.
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Tale \Tale\, n. [AS. talu number, speech, narrative; akin to D.
   taal speech, language, G. zahl number, OHG. zala, Icel. tal,
   tala, number, speech, Sw. tal, Dan. tal number, tale speech,
   Goth. talzjan to instruct. Cf. Tell, v. t., Toll a tax,
   also Talk, v. i.]
   1. That which is told; an oral relation or recital; any
      rehearsal of what has occured; narrative; discourse;
      statement; history; story. "The tale of Troy divine."
      --Milton. "In such manner rime is Dante's tale."
      --Chaucer.
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            We spend our years as a tale that is told. --Ps. xc.
                                                  9.
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   2. A number told or counted off; a reckoning by count; an
      enumeration; a count, in distinction from measure or
      weight; a number reckoned or stated.
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            The ignorant, . . . who measure by tale, and not by
            weight.                               --Hooker.
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            And every shepherd tells his tale,
            Under the hawthorn in the dale.       --Milton.
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            In packing, they keep a just tale of the number.
                                                  --Carew.
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   3. (Law) A count or declaration. [Obs.]
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   To tell tale of, to make account of. [Obs.]
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            Therefore little tale hath he told
            Of any dream, so holy was his heart.  --Chaucer.
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   Syn: Anecdote; story; fable; incident; memoir; relation;
        account; legend; narrative.
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Tale \Tale\ (t[=a]l), v. i.
   To tell stories. [Obs.] --Chaucer. --Gower.
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Tael \Tael\, n. [Malay ta[i^]l, a certain weight, probably fr.
   Hind. tola, Skr. tul[=a] a balance, weight, tul to weigh.]
   A denomination of money, in China, worth nearly six shillings
   sterling, or about a dollar and forty cents; also, a weight
   of one ounce and a third. [Written also tale.]
   [1913 Webster] Taen

TALE

   Typed Applicative Language Experiment.  M. van Leeuwen.  Lazy,
   purely applicative, polymorphic.  Based on typed second order
   lambda-calculus.  "Functional Programming and the Language
   TALE", H.P. Barendregt et al, in Current Trends in
   Concurrency, LNCS 224, Springer 1986, pp.122-207.

Tale
   (1.) Heb. tokhen, "a task," as weighed and measured out = tally,
   i.e., the number told off; the full number (Ex. 5:18; see 1 Sam.
   18:27; 1 Chr. 9:28). In Ezek. 45:11 rendered "measure."
   
     (2.) Heb. hegeh, "a thought;" "meditation" (Ps. 90:9); meaning
   properly "as a whisper of sadness," which is soon over, or "as a
   thought." The LXX. and Vulgate render it "spider;" the
   Authorized Version and Revised Version, "as a tale" that is
   told. In Job 37:2 this word is rendered "sound;" Revised Version
   margin, "muttering;" and in Ezek. 2:10, "mourning."
   

TALE, Eng. law. The declaration or count was anciently so called in law 
pleadings. 3 Bl. Com. 293. 

TALE, comm. law. A denomination of money in China. In the computation of the 
ad valorem duty on goods, &c. it is computed at one dollar and forty-eight 
cents. Act of March 2, 1799, s. 61, 1 Sto. L. U. S. 626. Vide Foreign Coins.