Forms: see TALLY sb.1 [f. TALLY sb.1 Cf. also med.L. talliāre to cut (wood); also, to conform or cause to correspond in number or measure: see Du Cange.
(Some of the uses may have been influenced by association with L. tālis such, tālio giving like for like.)]
I. 1. trans. † To notch (a stick) so as to make it a tally (obs.); hence, to mark, score, set down or enter (a number, etc.) on or as on a tally; transf. to record, register.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 486/1. Talyyn, or scoryn’ on taly, tallio, dico.
1632. Star Chamb. Cases (Camden), 94. Mrs Jennet Carrier had a knife in her hand,… to tally a sticke to shewe how many dishes full there were.
1633. Ford, Broken H., IV. i. So provident is folly in sad issue, That afterwit, like bankrupt’s debts, stands tallied, Without all possibilities of payment.
a. 1640. W. Fenner, Sacr. Faithf. (1648), 53. There is not one of them that God tallies down, or reckons for a praier.
1706. E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 18. At every tenth Call perhaps you may tally down a Sailor.
1890. Century Mag., June, 205/2. These [field judges] measure and tally the trials of competitors in jumps, pole vaults [etc.].
b. spec. To identify, count, and enter each bale, case, article, etc., of a cargo or lot of goods in loading or discharging.
1812. J. Smyth, Pract. of Customs (1821), 7. Goods paying Duty by Tale, are, at the delivery, to be tallied at 1, 10, 20, &c. according to the nature thereof.
1886. Pall Mall G., 29 Jan., 5/2. Upon the mates of ships … falls the bulk of the work and responsibility entailed in getting a ship ready to receive cargo, in ‘tallying’ the cargo, in preparing her to leave port [etc.].
1899. F. T. Bullen, Log Sea-waif, 226. No pretence was made of tallying in the cargo.
c. To furnish (a bale of goods, etc.) with a tally or identifying label; to distinguish, mark, or identify by or as by a tally: see TALLY sb.1 7.
1837. Marryat, Dog-Fiend, xxxiv. Leaving his people to mark and tally the bales.
1860. Maury, Phys. Geog. Sea (Low), vi. § 332. We have tallied the air, and put labels on the wind.
1865. Morn. Star, 27 Jan. If a number of bales were tallied as having arrived by a vessel called the Onwards, the label with the mark ‘Onwards’ on it was taken off and another marked the ‘City of Dublin’ placed in its stead.
2. To count or reckon up, to number.
1542. Becon, Pathw. Prayer, vi. C viij. Some … vpon theyr bedes taly vp I cannot tel howe many lady Psalters.
1586. W. Webbe, Eng. Poetrie (Arb.), 62. The first or the first couple hauing twelue sillables, the other fourteene, which versifyers call Powlters measure, because so they talle their wares by dozens.
1598. Wills & Inv. N. C. (Surtees), II. 335. Two men, to serve … att the pitt, to take the reckoninges, the one … who doth tallee the horses.
1648. Bp. Hall, Breath. Devout Soul, iv. 5. I have not kept even reckonings with thee: I have not justly tallied up thy inestimable benefits.
1660. Col. J. Okie’s Lament., 10. I must now tally the Account of our State Stinking Beer.
1885. A. Munro, Siren Casket (1889), 85. They anchor’d at morning to tally their spoil.
b. fig. To reckon, estimate (with obj. cl.). colloq. rare.
1860. Holland, Miss Gilbert, xix. You can’t hardly tally how she’s coming out because she ain’t exactly a woman yet.
† 3. intr. To deal on tally or credit; to open or have a credit account with any one. Obs.
1596. [see TAIL v.2 8, quot. 1570].
1724. Swift, Drapier’s Lett., Wks. 1755, V. II. 25. Several gentlemen have been forced to tally with their workmen, and give them bits of cards sealed and subscribed with their names.
II. † 4. trans. fig. To cause (things) to correspond or agree; to ‘match’; pa. pple. matched, suited, adapted. Obs.
1627. Bp. Hall, Holy Observ., Wks. 50. Morall philosophy [teacheth] that tallying of iniuries is iustice; diuinitie, that good must be returned for ill.
1716. Swift, Lett. to Pope, 30 Aug., in P’s Wks. (1751), IX. 8. ‘Is he Whig or a Tory?’ I am sorry to find they are not so well tallied to the present juncture as I could wish.
c. 1717. Prior, Epitaph, 16. They seem’d just tallied for each other.
1812. T. Jefferson, Writ. (1830), IV. 177. Peculiarly tallied in interests, by each wanting exactly what the other has to spare.
† 5. To compare, as tallies, for the purpose of verifying an account, etc. Obs.
1702. Lond. Gaz., No. 3827/4. These are to give Notice to all the Fortunate in Sydenham’s Land-Lottery … to bring their Prize Tickets, in order to have the same Tallied. Ibid. (1703), No. 3963/4. All Persons, whose Tickets in the late Land-Lottery have not been tallied and reported.
† b. fig. To bring into comparison, compare.
1773. J. Ross, Fratricide, VI. 478 (MS.). What but a shadow is this mortal life When tally’d with eternity?
6. intr. To agree, as one half of a cloven tally with its fellow; to correspond or answer exactly; to accord, conform, fit. Const. † to (obs.), with. (The chief current sense.)
1705. Addison, Italy, 227. I found pieces of Tiles that exactly tally’d with the Channel.
1720. Lett. Lond. Jrnl. (1721), 64. The Courage and Understanding of her [the High Church’s] Passive Sons Tally to each other.
1727. Swift, Gulliver, IV. xii. Neither shall I ever be able to comprehend how such an animal [Yahoo], and such a vice [pride], could tally together.
1738. Warburton, Div. Legat., I. 271. A Theory that does not exactly tally with fact.
1757. Da Costa, in Phil. Trans., L. 220. The impressions of ferns, grasses, &c. are easily recognizable, they so minutely tally to the plants they represent.
1779. J. Moore, View Soc. Fr. (1789), I. xxiv. 188. High hills, whose opposite sides tally so exactly.
1891. E. Peacock, N. Brendon, II. 82. It tallies exactly with what the others have said.
III. (? Connected with TALES.)
7. trans. (?) To summon or empanel as a juryman.
1776. in Stonehouse, Axholme (1839), 145. None of the Lord’s tenants, either freehold or copyhold, to be tallied out of the Manor, to the Assizes, Sessions, or Sheriff’s Court.
