See Also: tally(medicine)
tally(1)(dictionary)
tally(2)(dictionary)
tally-ho(dictionary)
tally(dictionary)
tally 1, noun(dictionary)
tally 2, verb(dictionary)

tally(1) (iou)



tally noun. ['tali] LME.
[Anglo-Norman tallie = Anglo-Latin tal(l)ia from Latin talea cutting, rod, stick: cf. TAIL noun2.]
Hist. A usu. squared wooden stick or rod, scored across with notches representing the amount of a debt or payment and then split lengthways across the notches into two halves (one retained by each party) the correspondence of which constituted legal proof of the debt etc.; spec. such a stick or rod given by the Exchequer as a receipt for a tax paid, a loan to the sovereign, etc. LME.
J. Francis Tallies..bundled up like..faggots in the hands of brokers.
b. Either of the corresponding halves of a thing; a corresponding thing or part; a duplicate, a counterpart. M17.
The record of an amount due, a number, etc.; an account. Also, a score, a reckoning, a total; spec. (a) Baseball a single run; (b) Austral. & NZ a total number of sheep shorn. L16.
C. Walker A Tally of every mans faults but his own hanging at his Girdle. Liverpool Echo Marksman Alex..took his tally to nine goals from his last four games. V. S. Naipaul Add one more human being to the tally of human beings he had encountered.
A number, a group; esp. a particular number (now freq. five) taken as a group or unit to facilitate keeping a tally or counting. Later also, the last of a specified number forming such a group or unit. L17.
b. A mark (orig. the notch of a tally) or set of marks representing a fixed quantity of things delivered, received, counted, etc. E18.
c. A system of paying for goods by instalments, a tally being kept by the seller; credit. Freq. attrib. E19.
tally-business, tally-master, tally-shop, tally-trade.
A tab, label, or ticket used for identification, as (a) one inscribed with the name, class, etc., of the plant or tree to which it is attached or adjacent; (b) a distinguishing mark identifying a consignment of or denoting a quantity of goods; (c) a miner's identification tag. E19.
Phrases: live tally slang cohabit (with a person) outside marriage. on tally, on the tally on credit, on the tally system.
Comb.: tally-board: on which an account, score, etc., is notched or chalked; tally card US a score-card; tally clerk (a) a person who keeps a tally of goods, esp. cargo loaded or unloaded in docks; (b) US a person who assists in counting and recording votes; tallyman (a) a person who sells goods on a tally system, esp. from door to door; (b) a person who keeps a tally of anything, a tally clerk; (c) slang a man cohabiting with a woman to whom he is not married; tally sheet: on which a tally is kept; tally-stick: used as or like a tally (see sense 1 above); tally system a system of selling goods on short-term credit or an instalment plan (cf. sense 3c above); tallywoman (a) a woman who sells goods on a tally system, esp. from door to door; (b) slang a woman cohabiting with a man to whom she is not married.