tally

[tal-ee]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR tally ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural tal·lies.

an account or reckoning; a record of debit and credit, of the score of a game, or the like.

Also called tally stick. a stick of wood with notches cut to indicate the amount of a debt or payment, often split lengthwise across the notches, the debtor retaining one piece and the creditor the other.

anything on which a score or account is kept.

a notch or mark made on or in a tally.

a number or group of items recorded.

a mark made to register a certain number of items, as four consecutive vertical lines with a diagonal line through them to indicate a group of five.

a number of objects serving as a unit of computation.

a ticket, label, or mark used as a means of identification, classification, etc.

anything corresponding to another thing as a counterpart or duplicate.

verb (used with object), tal·lied, tal·ly·ing.

to mark or enter on a tally; register; record.

to count or reckon up.

to furnish with a tally or identifying label.

to cause to correspond or agree.

verb (used without object), tal·lied, tal·ly·ing.

to correspond, as one part of a tally with the other; accord or agree: Does his story tally with hers?

to score a point or make a goal, as in a game.

Origin of tally

1275–1325; (noun) Middle English taly < Medieval Latin talia, variant of Latin tālea rod, cutting, literally, heel-piece, derivative of tālus heel; (v.) late Middle English talyen, derivative of the noun

Related formstal·li·er, nounre·tal·ly, noun, plural re·tal·lies, verb, re·tal·lied, re·tal·ly·ing.un·tal·lied, adjective

Synonyms for tally

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR tally ON THESAURUS.COM

1. inventory, count, enumeration. 10. enroll, list. 11. enumerate, calculate.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for tally

poll, total, itemize, register, account, mark, score, tab, summation, reckoning, compute, reckon, sum, number, tale, catalog, inventory, enumerate, tell, numerate

Examples from the Web for tally

Contemporary Examples of tally

They examined every “poll list, tally sheet, certificate of result, and, where necessary, each ballot.”
Honoring The Late John Doar, A Nearly Forgotten Hero Of The Civil Rights Era
Gary May
November 15, 2014
We keep a tally of school shootings at The Daily Beast, too, using a slightly different methodology.
This Gun Nut Says Most School Shootings Aren’t Real
Brandy Zadrozny
June 12, 2014
The following day, another school shooting at Arapahoe High School added to our tally.
This Gun Nut Says Most School Shootings Aren’t Real
Brandy Zadrozny
June 12, 2014
Tally one for the superstition list… no more laundry at night.
Dodging Rockets in Afghanistan as the Taliban’s Fighting Season Begins
Nick Willard
May 14, 2014
When the smoke cleared, a most precious 43-8 tally remained intact.
The Impossible Super Bowl Score: First 43-8 Football Game in a Century
Evin Demirel
February 3, 2014

Historical Examples of tally

The dates, circumstances, all tally in the minutest particulars.
Diary And Notes Of Horace Templeton, Esq.
Charles James Lever
Neither did our conduct at all tally with the reputation that preceded us.
Maurice Tiernay Soldier of Fortune
Charles James Lever
It had entirely failed to tally with his expectations of it.
A Great Man
Arnold Bennett
This startling fact did not tally somehow with the idea Davidson had of Heyst.
Victory
Joseph Conrad
It is hard that a man's exterior should tally so little sometimes with his soul.
The Moon and Sixpence
W. Somerset Maugham

British Dictionary definitions for tally

tally

verb -lies, -lying or -lied

(intr) to correspond one with the otherthe two stories don't tally

(tr) to supply with an identifying tag

(intr) to keep score

(tr) obsolete to record or mark

noun plural -lies

any record of debit, credit, the score in a game, etc

a ticket, label, or mark, used as a means of identification, classification, etc

a counterpart or duplicate of something, such as the counterfoil of a cheque

a stick used (esp formerly) as a record of the amount of a debt according to the notches cut in it

a notch or mark cut in or made on such a stick

a mark or number of marks used to represent a certain number in counting

Australian and NZ the total number of sheep shorn by one shearer in a specified period of time

Derived Formstallier, noun

Word Origin for tally

C15: from Medieval Latin tālea, from Latin: a stick; related to Latin tālus heel

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for tally

mid-15c., "stick marked with notches to indicate amount owed or paid," from Anglo-French tallie (early 14c.), Anglo-Latin talea (late 12c.), from Medieval Latin tallia, from Latin talea "a cutting, rod, stick" (see tailor, and cf. sense history of score). Meaning "a thing that matches another" first recorded 1650s, said to be from practice of splitting a tally lengthwise, debtor and creditor each retaining one of the halves. Sports sense of "a total score" is from 1856.

mid-15c., from Medieval Latin talliare "to tax," from tallia (see tally (n.)). Related: Tallied; tallying.