ppl. a. rare. [pa. pple. of TELL v.] Related, narrated, recounted; counted, reckoned; † esteemed: see the verb. Chiefly in comb., as oft-told (OFT A. c), twice-told, etc. † By told tales, as is said, as they say (cf. by all accounts).
c. 1310. in Böddeker, Altengl. Dicht., 292. Ȝef þou art riche & wel ytold, Ne be þou noht þarefore to bold.
a. 1425. Cursor M., 18713 (Trin.). Alle þat wolde leue [= believe] þat tolde And bapteme receyue wolde.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov. (1867), 22. All is not golde that glisters by tolde tales.
1882. W. B. Weeden, Soc. Law Labor, 94. Capital is told wealth.
b. Told out, counted out; hence, played out, spun out, exhausted (colloq.).
1861. Whyte-Melville, Mrkt. Harb., xi. (1862), 89. He could not disguise from himself that the roan was about ‘told out.’
1903. Lillian H. Ward, ‘Regents,’ 9, in Violet Verses.
| Three long hours of deathly stillness | |
| Broken by the loud tick tock | |
| Of the seconds quickly passing | |
| As they’re told out by the clock! |
