tell against
Verb
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Verb
- (transitive, idiomatic) To function as a liability (for someone); to put into a condition of disadvantage.
- 2003 June 23, First Chapter: Auto da Fay ↗ by Fay Weldon, New York Times:
- [H]ard as he worked, his age was beginning to tell against him.
- 2003 June 23, First Chapter: Auto da Fay ↗ by Fay Weldon, New York Times:
- (transitive, idiomatic) To serve as evidence which casts doubt upon.
- 1905, Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons," in The Return of Sherlock Holmes:
- "Such a fact must tell against the theory."
- 2002 Oct. 1, John Grimshaw, Clue Challenge: BOLE ↗, The Times (UK):
- [T]he comma tells against this reading.
- 1905, Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons," in The Return of Sherlock Holmes:
- (function as a liability) disadvantage (verb)
- (serve as evidence which casts doubt upon) discredit
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003