to tell tales out of school
1
8.4
- idiom
- Informal
:
contar secretos
- And I'm not telling tales out of school.
Examples
-
During the meeting, he accidentally told tales out of school about the project details that were supposed to remain confidential.
-
And shame on you, Tony, my love, for telling tales out of school!
Fiction book (1991) -
You shouldn't tell tales out of school, arty-farty.
-
Now, I'm not one to tell tales out of school, but the girls over here, they go wild for an American accent and the promise of a pair of nylons.
-
And I don't want to tell tales out of school, but he has a converted wine cellar that is now a dungeon in his home filled with thousands of D&D figurines.
-
As the reception of the story shows, the elites expressed shock that Capote was telling tales out of school: he not only broke a narrative contract, but also contaminated a broad audience with the virus-like nature of the elites' stories.
Academic text (2016) -
Given that Miller wrote the letter at a time when "the federal agent to the Cherokees had recently died and his successor had not yet arrived," it is not difficult to theorize his possible ulterior motives to fabricate or tell tales out of school (36).
Academic text (2001) -
I don't mean to tell tales out of school, but I overheard the manager discussing potential layoffs.
-
She was tempted to tell tales out of school, but she knew it would betray her friend's trust.
Synonyms
76
8.6
To tell the police or another authority about someone's bad action, betraying their trust
47
5.6
Say all private things about a person or event
45
6.2
To tell secret or private information to people
18
6.0
Tell a secret by accident before others know
8
7.0
Tell a person in charge about someone else's bad actions in a childish way
8
6.8
Reveal secret information that shocks people
5
5.1
To tell a secret that should be kept
2
9.9
To tell authorities secret information about someone to get them in trouble
1
8.5
To tell private or bad things about someone to other people
1
7.9
To tell a secret carelessly or without meaning to
To tell secrets without thinking
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
tell + tale + out + of + school
The components 'tell' and 'tales' transparently signal telling stories or gossip, so a B1 learner might infer it's about saying things about others; however the fixed phrase 'out of school' and the specific sense of indiscreetly revealing private or confidential information is idiomatic and not fully predictable from the parts. Because part of the meaning is inferable (telling stories/gossip) but the precise pragmatic sense (improper disclosure) requires prior exposure, the expression is best classified as semi-transparent.
Etymology
Tell tales out of school may come from a simple image: children who heard or shared something in class then tell tales out of school, taking those stories outside where they did not belong. So, the phrase now means to reveal 'private' information.