tally on

verb

To man a rope for hauling, the sailors standing in a line (also called a tail)

Meanings

verbtally on (third-person singular simple present tallies on, present participle tallying on, simple past and past participle tallied on)

present singular third person tallies on · participle present tallying on · participle past tallied on · past tallied on

  1. archaicnauticalTo man a rope for hauling, the sailors standing in a line (also called a tail)

    “Now then — to the main topsail now! Tally on to that gantline. Don't stand about there!”

    1897, Joseph Conrad, The Children of the Sea: A Tale of the Forecastle, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, →OCLC
    2 more examples

    Our watch haul out the fore, and lay aloft and put two reefs into it, and reef the foresail, and race with the starboard watch, to see which will mast-head its topsail first. All hands tally-on to the main tack, and while some are furling the jib, and hoisting the staysail, we mizen-topmen double-reef the mizen topsail and hoist it up.

    1840, R[ichard] H[enry] D[ana], Jr., Two Years before the Mast. […] (Harper’s Family Library; no. CVI), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], →OCLC

    Make fast a rope at bow and at stern! Good! Every man for himself! Up, thou! And thou! Up go we all! Come, tally on and hoist the boat on board!

    1923, Charles Boardman Hawes, The Dark Frigate, Chapter 17
  2. nauticalTo dovetail together.
Cite this entry
APA

tally on. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tally%20on

MLA

“tally on.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tally%20on. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tally on,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tally%20on.

Source: tally on on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.