tell off

== English == === Pronunciation === === Verb === tell off (third-person singular simple present tells off, present participle telling off, simple past and past participle told off) (transitive, military) To number off (a group of soldiers); to divide up (soldiers) in this way. [from 18th c.] (transitive) To assign (someone) to a particular task, duty etc.; to depute, to allocate. [from 18th c.] (transitive) To count off (numbers, members of a sequence etc.); to enumerate. [from 18th c.] (transitive) To rebuke, to reprimand, or to admonish, often in a harsh, angry, direct way. [from 19th c.] ==== Synonyms ==== (rebuke): give somebody a piece of one's mind, give somebody what-for, read somebody the riot act, scold; see also Thesaurus:criticize (count): enumerate, number; see also Thesaurus:count ==== Translations ==== === References === Oxford English Dictionary