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To run about and tattle; to tell idle tales.

Mother; -- word of tenderness and familiarity. [Written also mama.] Tell tales papa and mamma. Swift.

Serving to teach or convey a moral; as, a moral lesson; moral tales. Moral agent, a being who is capable of acting with reference to right and wrong. -- Moral certainty, a very high degree or probability, although not demonstrable as a certainty; a probability of so high a degree that it can be confidently acted upon…

A beggar; a begging impostor. Deceived by the tales of a Lincoln's Inn mumper. Macaulay.

To utter or give forth in low or indistinct words or sounds; as, to murmur tales. Shak. The people murmured such things concerning him. John vii. 32.

Making or producing myths or mythical tales.

An imaginary monster, or hideous giant of fairy tales, who lived on human beings; hence, any frightful giant; a cruel monster. His schoolroom must have resembled an ogre's den. Maccaulay.

ndants of her ear. Pope. Many . . . have been pleased with this work and its pendant, the Tales and Popular Fictions. Keightley.

roduction to a discourse, poem, or performance; as, the prologue of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales;" esp., a discourse or poem spoken before a dramatic performance

wide space; to scrape together; as, to rake together wealth; to rake together slanderous tales; to rake together the rabble of a town.

A fox; -- so called in fables or familiar tales, and in poetry. [Written also reynard.]

Of or pertaining to Renard, the fox, or the tales in which Renard is mentioned.

orts speeches, the proceedings of public meetings, news, etc., for the newspapers. Of our tales judge and reportour. Chaucer.

or natural connection; rambling composition. "A rhapsody of words." Shak. "A rhapsody of tales." Locke.

ouplet rhyme; -- probably so called from the mounted pilgrims described in the Canterbury Tales. Dr. Guest. -- Riding school, a school or place where the art of riding is taught.

originally composed in meter in the Romance dialects, and afterward in prose, such as the tales of the court of Arthur, and of Amadis of Gaul; hence, any fictitious and wonderful tale; a sort of novel, especially one which treats of surprising adventures usually befalling a hero or a heroine; a tale of extravagant adve…

Sense; meaning; significance. [Obs.] Tales of best sentence and most solace. Chaucer. The discourse itself, voluble enough, and full of sentence. Milton.

of another; the malicious utterance of defamatory reports; the dissemination of malicious tales or suggestions to the injury of another. Whether we speak evil of a man to his face or behind his back; the former way, indeed, seems to be the most generous, but yet is a great fault, and that which we call "reviling;" the…

e features of the face; to laugh silently. He doth nothing but frown . . . He hears merry tales and smiles not. Shak. She led to see the doughty hero slain. Pope. When last I saw thy young blue eyes, they smiled. Byron.

rs to any place or purpose; a decoy; a stool pigeon. [Obs.] Still, as he went, he crafty stales did lay. Spenser.