"Tally" is a word in LAW AND LEGAL, ENGLISH
Y, or TALLY. A stick cut lnto two parts, on each whereof is marked, with notches or otherwise, what is due between debtor and creditor. It was the ancient mode of keeping accounts, one part was held by the creditor, and the other by the debtor. The use of tallies in the exchequer was abolished by St. 23 Geo. III. c. 82, and the old tallies were ordered to be destroyed by St 4 & 5 wm. IV. c. 15. wharton
Originally, a piece of wood on which notches or scores were
cut, as the marks of number; later, one of two books, sheets of paper,
etc., on which corresponding accounts were kept.
A notch, mark, or score made on or in a tally; as, to make
or earn a tally in a game.
Hence, any account or score kept by notches or marks,
whether on wood or paper, or in a book; especially, one kept in
duplicate.
To score with correspondent notches; hence, to make to
correspond; to cause to fit or suit.
To be fitted; to suit; to correspond; to match.
One thing made to suit another; a match; a mate.
A tally shop. See Tally shop, below.
Stoutly; with spirit.
To make a tally; to score; as, to tally in a game.
To check off, as parcels of freight going inboard or
outboard.
The rain spun in the yellow arc lights over the café parking lot. It was empty inside, except for a fat Negro woman whom I could see through the service window in the kitchen, and a pretty, redheaded waitress in her early twenties, dressed in a pink uniform with her hair tied up on her freckled neck. She was obviously tired, but she was polite and smiled at me when she took my order, and I felt a sense of guilt, almost shame, at my susceptibility and easy fondness for a young woman's smile. Because if you're forty-nine and unmarried or a widower or if you've simply chosen to live alone, you're easily flattered by a young woman's seeming attention to you, and you forget that it is often simply a deference to your age.
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In old English law. A tally for accounts, hy number of cuts, (taillees,) marks, or notches. CoweU. See Tallia, Tally
Read the complete definitionTo make a nick or nicks in; to notch; to keep count of or upon by nicks; as, to nick …
Read the complete definitionA notch or incision; especially, one that is made as a tally mark; hence, a mark, or line, made for …
Read the complete definitionEspecially, to mark with significant lines or notches, for indicating or keeping account of something; as, to score a tally.
Read the complete definition