Meanings
present singular third person betells · participle present betelling · participle past betold · past betold
- transitiveTo speak or tell about; declare; narrate; describe.
Occasionally we do see some short-line road whose track and equipment are kept in such good repair as to betell of exceptional prosperity; […]
1938, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (U.S.), Locomotive engineers journal2 more examples
Sid's face disappeared and one of his cursed Gods was glaring instead, through gouged-out sockets that betold of his having loved that which was denied him, a law that not even legends could do away with.
2001, Donna Morrissey, Kit's Law: A NovelThe air pooled in stillness because the winds had died and would never breathe again, and the silence betold a world of solid stone, where the planetary core had gone cold, where no rivers ran and seas no longer stirred with tides, […]
2009, Dean R. Koontz, Odd Hours - transitiveTo speak for; answer for; justify.
- raretransitiveTo talk about negatively; slander; calumniate; deride; deceive.
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Old Englishbetellan“to speak about, answer, defend oneself against a charge or accusation”
- Middle Englishbetellen“to tell about, calumniate”
- Englishbetell
From Middle English betellen (“to tell about, calumniate”), from Old English betellan (“to speak about, answer, defend oneself against a charge or accusation”), equivalent to be- (“about, concerning”) + tell.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
betell. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/betell
“betell.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/betell. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “betell,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/betell.
Source: betell on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.