William Tell

American  

noun

1. a legendary Swiss patriot forced by the Austrian governor to shoot an apple off his son's head with bow and arrow.

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Tell, William Cultural  

1. A legendary hero of Switzerland, famous for his skill as an archer. A tyrannical official forced him to shoot an apple off his son's head.

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Example Sentences

Finally, the film gets surrealistic and even incorporates the William Tell scene from Burroughs' own life.

From Salon • Dec. 1, 2024

There is Rat Island, nothing more than a pile of rocks with a strange statue of the Swiss folk hero William Tell.

From Scientific American • Oct. 12, 2021

His latest film “The Card Counter,” now playing in theaters, stars Oscar Isaac as William Tell, a gambler existing in something of a self-imposed purgatory, drifting between small-stakes casinos and anonymous motel rooms.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 15, 2021

As the movie opens, Isaac’s character, William Tell, explains how he came to learn his trade: in military prison, where he’s been serving a sentence that only later comes fully into focus.

From Washington Post • Sep. 8, 2021

I think that as we listened to the William Tell Overture, we were supposed to be imagining the Lone Ranger and Tonto riding their horses through the desert.

From "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" by Benjamin Alire Saenz