tall
English
Etymology
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
- (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
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
- 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
- → Welsh: tal
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Noun
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.
- 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.
Albanian
Etymology
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]
Derived terms
References
- Orel, Vladimir E. (1998) “tall”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, page 448
Breton
Catalan
Etymology
Deverbal from tallar.
Noun
tall m (plural talls)
Further reading
- “tall” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
Estonian
Declension
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.
Declension
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
Etymology
From Old Norse tal (“talk, speech, number”), from Proto-Germanic *talą (“number, speech”).
Derived terms
See also
- tal (Nynorsk)
References
- “tall” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Old Irish
Adverb
tall
Determiner
tall
- that (used after the noun, which is preceded by the definite article)
- a tadall tall ― that visit
Synonyms
Swedish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /tal/
audio (file)
Declension
Declension of tall | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | tall | tallen | tallar | tallarna |
Genitive | talls | tallens | tallars | tallarnas |
Related terms
- tallkotte
- tallväxter
See also
- barrväxter
- furu
- furutimmer
- furuträ
- falla som en fura
Further reading
- tall in Svensk ordbok.