tall Hear it!

tall Definition

tall (tôl)

adjective

  1. of more than normal height or stature a tall man, a tall building
  2. having a specified height five feet tall
  3. ☆ Informal hard to believe because exaggerated or untrue a tall tale
  4. ☆ Informal large; of considerable size a tall drink
  5. ☆ Informal high-flown; pompously eloquent tall talk
  6. Obsolete
    1. handsome
    2. brave

Etymology: ME tal, dexterous, seemly < OE (ge)tæl, swift, prompt, akin to OHG gizal, swift < IE base *del-, to aim > tale, tell

adverb

in an upright, dignified manner to stand tall, ride tall in the saddle

tall Related Forms
tall′·ness noun
tall Synonyms

tall

modif.

  1. Lofty

    big, great, towering; see high 1.

  2. Exaggerated

    far-fetched, outlandish, unbelievable; see exaggerated.

tall Usage Examples

Preposition: at

  • shoulder: At three and half years old she's between five and six feet tall at the shoulder.

Adjective complement with noun phrase

  • stand: Each of the 56 turbines stands 53m tall, with a rotor span of 22m.

Modifies a noun

  • chimney: Note the curious 19th century vestry to the north, with its tall chimney.
  • spire: What do you think is the name of the building on the right with the tall spire?
  • tower: Next to the church stands a tall bell tower in the Italian style.
  • grass: On and on through the tall green grass, their plumes touched by the wind of death.
  • tale: Nothing wrong with a few tall tales, I say.
  • tree: I will be the tallest tree in the world.

Modifying Another Word

  • unusually: Notice the unusually tall streetlights - they're tall enough for traffic on the sliproad, but serve the mainline as well.
  • ridiculously: They have a three inch heel, which makes me ridiculously tall.
  • exceptionally: He could not be mistaken, as he was an exceptionally tall man and had a peculiar carriage of the head.
  • too: I think that that's too tall an order.
  • slightly: I'm Neil the slightly taller, slightly less Scottish LD!

Used with adjective complement

  • stand: There stood a single stone standing tall under the sun above.
  • grow: Neither of the plants will grow taller than 20 inches.
  • walk: Where next will a President wish to " walk tall " ?
  • sit: Upper Back Stretch Stand or sit tall with good posture.

Preposition: with

  • posture: Upper Back Stretch Stand or sit tall with good posture.
  • leg: Seated Hamstring and Groin Stretch Sit tall with both legs fully outstretched.

Preposition: by

  • inch: They are approximately 3 inches tall by 10 inches long.
tall Quotes

A daughter of the gods, divinely tall, And most divinely fair.

—Tennyson

  Let our children grow tall, and some taller than others if they have it in them to do so.

—Thatcher, Margaret HildaThatcher, Baroness

O you who turn the wheel and look to windward, Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.

—Eliot,T(homas) S(tearns)

I kissed her slender hand, She took the kiss sedately; Maud is not seventeen, But she is tall and stately.

—Tennyson

Jane, Jane, Tall as a crane, The morning light creaks down again.

—Sitwell, Dame Edith Louisa

   The tall, impossibly tall, incomparably tall, city shoulderingly upwards into hard sunlight leaned a little through the octaves of its parallel edges, leaningly strode upwards into firm, hard, snowy sunlight; the noises of America nearingly throbbed with smokes and hurrying dots which are men and which are women and which are things new and curious and hard and strange and vibrant and immense, lifting with a great ondulous stride firmly into immortal sunlight†

—cummings, e e pen name of  Edward Estlin Cummings