Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Telltale

Tell′tale′ (tĕl′tāl′), a. Telling tales; babbling. "The telltale heart." Poe.

Tell′tale′, n. 1. One who officiously communicates information of the private concerns of others; one who tells that which prudence should suppress.

2. (Mus.) A movable piece of ivory, lead, or other material, connected with the bellows of an organ, that gives notice, by its position, when the wind is exhausted.

3. (Naut.) (a) A mechanical attachment to the steering wheel, which, in the absence of a tiller, shows the position of the helm. (b) A compass in the cabin of a vessel, usually placed where the captain can see it at all hours, and thus inform himself of the vessel's course.

4. (Mach.) A machine or contrivance for indicating or recording something, particularly for keeping a check upon employees, as factory hands, watchmen, drivers, check takers, and the like, by revealing to their employers what they have done or omitted.

5. (Zoöl.) The tattler. See Tattler.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.