tall

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Having a greater than average height.

   My brother is very tall for his age.

2. 2
   adj

   Having a top that is a long way up; high.

   They walked past a row of tall trees.

3. 3
   adj

   Hard to believe; exaggerated.

   He told us a tall tale about catching a giant fish.

From Middle English tall, talle, tal (“seemly, becoming, handsome, good-looking, excellent, good, valiant, lively in speech, bold, great, large, big”), from Old English *tæl, ġetæl (“swift, ready, having mastery of”), from Proto-Germanic *talaz (“submissive, pliable, obedient”), from Proto-Indo-European *dol-, *del- (“to aim, calculate, adjust, reckon”). Cognate with Scots tal (“high, lofty, tall”), Old Frisian tel (“swift”), Old Saxon gital (“quick”), Old High German gizal (“active, agile”), Gothic 𐌿𐌽𐍄𐌰𐌻𐍃 (untals, “indocile, disobedient”). The Oxford English Dictionary notes: "The sense devel…

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