Find the word definition

Crossword clues for telltale

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
telltale
I.adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a telltale/tell-tale sign (=signs that clearly show something bad)
▪ She would not look at me directly, a tell-tale sign that she was embarrassed.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
sign
▪ The out-of-state addresses were a telltale sign that the children were illegally adopted.
▪ It was a telltale sign that water was seeping through the canyon walls, softening the mica shale and conglomerate abutment.
▪ One telltale sign is when government hunkers down and starts to tinker with things.
▪ Would we allow the police to search the sacred precincts of marital bedrooms for telltale signs of the use of contraceptives?
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Teachers are encouraged to look for telltale signs of abuse among their students.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Internal haemorrhaging spills blood into the stomach, and this causes a telltale black vomit.
▪ It was a telltale sign that water was seeping through the canyon walls, softening the mica shale and conglomerate abutment.
▪ She removed the briefs and felt the telltale moisture below.
▪ The great majority, once they breach the system and hear the telltale whine, are out of there like a shot.
▪ The kelp bass with their telltale checkerboard markings are fabled in these waters.
▪ The out-of-state addresses were a telltale sign that the children were illegally adopted.
▪ Their spacing is regular, a telltale mark that the flow field around each sea pen defines the optimum spacing of neighbors.
II.noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Any false starts or false moves will result in error and the telltale bugs.
▪ Only professional decorum prevented me from picking up the remaining telltale and gnawing greedily away.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
telltale

Tattler \Tat"tler\, n.

  1. One who tattles; an idle talker; one who tells tales.
    --Jer. Taylor.

  2. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of several species of large, long-legged sandpipers belonging to the genus Totanus.

    Note: The common American species are the greater tattler, or telltale ( Totanus melanoleucus), the smaller tattler, or lesser yellowlegs ( Totanus flavipes), the solitary tattler ( Totanus solitarius), and the semipalmated tattler, or willet. The first two are called also telltale, telltale spine, telltale tattler, yellowlegs, yellowshanks, and yelper.

telltale

Yellowlegs \Yel"low*legs`\, n. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of several species of long-legged sandpipers of the genus Totanus, in which the legs are bright yellow; -- called also stone snipe, tattler, telltale, yellowshanks; and yellowshins. See Tattler, 2.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
telltale

also tell-tale, "discloser of secrets," 1540s, from tell (v.) + tale. As an adjective from 1590s. Phrase tell a tale "relate a false or exaggerated story" is from late 13c.

Wiktionary
telltale

a. revealing something not intended to be known n. 1 One who divulges private information with intent to hurt others. 2 (context chiefly US slang English) tattletale; squealer. 3 Something that serves to reveal something else. 4 (context music English) A movable piece of ivory, lead, or other material, connected to the bellows of an organ, whose position indicates when the wind is exhausted. 5 (context nautical English) A length of yarn or ribbon attached to a sail or shroud etc to indicate the direction of the flow of the air relative to the boat. 6 (context nautical English) A mechanical attachment to the steering wheel, which, in the absence of a tiller, shows the position of the helm. 7 (context nautical English) 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. 8 (context engineering English) A machine or contrivance for indicating or recording something, particularly for keeping a check upon employees (factory hands, watchmen, drivers, etc.) by revealing to their employers what they have done or omitted. 9 A bird, the tattler.

WordNet
telltale
  1. adj. disclosing unintentionally; "a telling smile"; "a telltale panel of lights"; "a telltale patch of oil on the water marked where the boat went down" [syn: revealing, telling, telltale(a)]

  2. n. someone who gossips indiscreetly [syn: tattletale, tattler, taleteller, talebearer, blabbermouth]

Wikipedia
Telltale

Telltale may refer to:

  • Tell-tale, an indicator or sign of something
  • Tell-Tale (film), a 2009 film based on "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe
  • Telltale Games, a video game developer
  • Telltale (Rainbow), a group of musicians known for their work on the 1970s British TV series Rainbow
  • A type of automotive lighting
  • A slang term for an informant
Telltale (Rainbow)

Telltale were a group of six musicians who regularly appeared on the first series of the British TV series Rainbow in 1972.

Telltale began with Tim Thomas and Hugh Portnow who were working with the Freehold Theatre Company. In 1970, Tim concentrated on forming a group of musicians and actors, and Hugh joined him a year later. Hugh Fraser, Chris Ashley and Fluff Joinson joined later, with the final member Ted Richards joining the group in the summer of 1972.

Portnow, Fraser and Thomas also wrote the theme tune to Rainbow.

The band feature on a vinyl LP album released by MFP in 1973 called Songs from the Thames Television Children's Programme "Rainbow" (catalogue number MFP50087), which was produced by Anton Kwiatkowski. The group recorded a total of 14 songs for the album, including "Shapes" and "Walk in the Country".

After series two of the show, Telltale were replaced with singing trio Charlie, Karl and Julian ( Charlie Dore, Karl Johnson and Julian Littman) in 1974. That trio were later replaced with Rod, Jane and Matthew, the precursors to Rod, Jane and Roger and the more familiar Rod, Jane and Freddy.

Usage examples of "telltale".

Set in the backmost wall was a control board and piloting screens, various telltales glowing amber among the mica-washed stones.

Aboard the Theodore Knight, the crew and officers cheered their destruction of the Japanese submarine as they watched the telltale slick of black oil and fuel pool on the surface like a death cloud above the sunken boat.

T-shirt was sleeveless, faint telltales of Chiba City circuitry traced along her thin arms.

A telltale tickle at the edge of my mind pushed me back behind a towering midfeather which held up the groined ceiling.

Telltales flickered on the temples of the shades, too, indicating that they were tuned to a narrowcast from one or more of the wallboards.

I ruffled quickly through the thick mass of auburn and cinnamon, looking for the telltale whitish nits, then stepped back, bending my own head.

As they passed through the entrance, Roads noted the tingling, skin-crawling sensation of security scanners, electromagnetic fingers that reached through their clothes to search for the telltale shapes of concealed weapons.

He progressed along the line of sea fans, watching for the telltale piles of shells, which marked octopi dwellings.

But the closer data are packed, the harder they are to erase and the more chance that telltale secrets will remain behind on reused media.

If there was something after Deke, but it was willing to take its time and use a long-term plan, the smartest move would be to leave no telltales behind.

Dark telltales of turned soil marred the ground, betraying where German tanks, artillery, trucks, and tractors churned over the Soviet plain.

What was new was that the new Star Destroyers lacked the telltale projector domes of most Interdictor ships.

If Earthmen Marines were on any of the islets he could see, he should be able to discern at least a few of the telltale hollows their invisible bodies made in the grass.

In the distance, Uhura could hear the telltale hiss of a microfoam mattress decompacting as weight was removed from it.

Sure, there were little telltale signs like the Soviets marching through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Mongolia, Turkmenia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kirgizia, Poland, Moldavia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Albania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, East Germany, Yugoslavia, North Korea, Cuba, South Yemen, Congo-Brazzaville, North Vietnam, Guinea-Bissau, Cambodia, Laos, South Vietnam, Ethiopia, Angola, Mozambique, Nicaragua, the Seychelles, Grenada, and Afghanistan.