1
general::
Phrase(s): tell time
1. Lit. to keep or report the correct time. • This clock doesn’t tell time very accurately. • My watch stopped telling time, so I had to have it repaired. 2. Fig. to be able to read time from a clock or watch. • Billy is only four. He can’t tell time yet. • They are teaching the children to tell time at school.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
2
general::
Keep track of the hours; also, know how to read a clock or watch. For example, This old clock still tells time quite accurately, or He taught his niece to tell time by using a cuckoo clock. This expression uses tell in the sense of "reckon" or "calculate," a usage dating from about A.D. 1000.
American Heritage Idioms