tell tales

Idioms  

1. Divulge secrets, as in Don't trust him; he's apt to tell tales. This expression was first recorded about 1350. A variant, tell tales out of school, first recorded in 1530, presumably alluded to schoolchildren gossiping but was soon broadened to revealing secret or private information. Both may be obsolescent.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tell tales

So he decides to keep appearing in clubs to tell tales of his relationship woes, lacing the commentary with rueful remarks that are vaguely comic, though nothing he says is actually funny.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025

At least the ones in “Misdemeanor Dream,” who tell tales in English and Native languages, but also via movement and dance, of the births of constellations, the celestial romance that begets all sentient life.

From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2022

My siblings and I tell tales of our mother that bring her into the present.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 23, 2021

The short 150-word stories are written with affection and humour; and tell tales of couples who believe that love does not recognise man-made boundaries.

From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2020

It is my suspicion that he is too sensible of how words desert him to tell tales in company; but I wish ardently that he should speak freely.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

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