told

verb

• (archaic outside of idioms) To count, reckon, or enumerate.

  "All told, there were over a dozen.  Can you tell time on a clock?  He had untold wealth."

• To narrate.

  "I want to tell a story;  I want to tell you a story."

• To convey by speech; to say.

  "Finally, someone told him the truth.  He seems to like to tell lies."

• To instruct or inform.

  "Please tell me how to do it."

• To order; to direct, to say to someone.

  "Tell him to go away."

• To discern, notice, identify or distinguish.

  "Can you tell whether those flowers are real or silk, from this distance?  No, there's no way to tell."

• To reveal.

  "Time will tell what became of him."

• To be revealed.
• To have an effect, especially a noticeable one; to be apparent, to be demonstrated.

  "Sir Gerald was moving slower; his wounds were beginning to tell."

• To use (beads or similar objects) as an aid to prayer.
• To inform someone in authority about a wrongdoing.

  "I saw you steal those sweets! I'm going to tell!"

• (authorship) To reveal information in prose through outright expository statement -- contrasted with show

  "Maria rewrote the section of her novel that talked about Meg and Sage's friendship to have less telling and more showing."