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.

---

Example Sentences

Those who carry on the effort tell tales of long getting threats and being watched — presumably by the same people who murdered their sons, brothers and husbands.

From Seattle Times

Many of my African American friends tell tales of how they enter an elevator with a single white female, and how she tenses up, clutches her purse more tightly and moves away in fear.

From Scientific American

People, then and now, tell tales about the brave things they are about to do, or just did, or are thinking of doing, or thought they might do, if they were not the people they are but had the superpowers we all wish we had.

From The New Yorker

Carbon isotopes will tell tales of greenhouse gases and a warming world, ocean sediments will reflect water with less oxygen and higher acidity, and the paleontological record will show just how quickly biodiversity dropped after we came on the scene.

From Salon

Both documentaries tell tales of survival and selflessness.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• blab