1. one who informs on another; a talebearer.
2. something that indicates or reveals information; a sign.
3. any of various devices that indicate or register information, especially:
4. A time clock.
5. nautical one of the brightly colored lengths of yarn or ribbon attached to the shrouds, stays, or sails of a sailboat, serving to indicate wind direction relative to the boat's motion.
6. A row of strips hung above a railroad track to warn a passing train of low clearance ahead.
7. sports A resonant metal strip, 24 or 30 inches (61 or 76 centimeters) high, across the bottom of the front wall of a racquets or squash court above which the ball must be hit.

1. one who divulges private information with intent to hurt others.
2. tattletale; squealer.
3. something that serves to reveal something else.
4. A movable piece of ivory, lead, or other material, connected to the bellows of an organ, whose position indicates when the wind is exhausted.
5. A length of yarn or ribbon attached to a sail or shroud etc to indicate the direction of the flow of the air relative to the boat.
6. A mechanical attachment to the steering wheel, which, in the absence of a tiller, shows the position of the helm.
7. A compass in the cabin of a vessel, usually placed where the captain can see it at all hours, and thus inform himself of the vessel's course.
8. A machine or contrivance for indicating or recording something, particularly for keeping a check upon employees (factory hands, watchmen, drivers, etc.) by revealing to their employers what they have done or omitted.
9. A bird, the tattler.
10. revealing something not intended to be known

1. telling tales; babbling.
2. one who officiously communicates information of the private concerns of others; one who tells that which prudence should suppress.
3. A movable piece of ivory, lead, or other material, connected with the bellows of an organ, that gives notice, by its position, when the wind is exhausted.
4.
5. A mechanical attachment to the steering wheel, which, in the absence of a tiller, shows the position of the helm.
6. A compass in the cabin of a vessel, usually placed where the captain can see it at all hours, and thus inform himself of the vessel's course.
7. A machine or contrivance for indicating or recording something, particularly for keeping a check upon employees, as factory hands, watchmen, drivers, check takers, and the like, by revealing to their employers what they have done or omitted.
8. the tattler. see tattler.
9. A thing that serves to disclose something or give information; a hint or indication.
10. an arrangement consisting of long strips, as of rope, wire, or leather, hanging from a bar over railroad tracks, in such a position as to warn freight brakemen of their approach to a low overhead bridge.

1. one who officiously or heedlessly communicates information concerning the private affairs of others; one who tells that which is supposed to be secret or private; a blabber; an informer; a tale-bearer.
2. an indication or an indicator; that which serves to convey information.
3. A name given to a variety of instruments or devices, usually automatic, used for counting, indicating, registering, or otherwise giving desired information.
4. in ornithology, a tattler; a bird of the genus Totanus in a broad sense: as, the greater and lesser telltale, Totanus melanoleucus and T. fiavipes. see tattler, and cut under yellowlegs.
5. disposed to tell or reveal secrets, whether officiously or heedlessly; given to betraying the confidences or revealing the private affairs of others; blabbing: as, telltale people.
6. showing, revealing, or denoting that which is not intended to be known, apparent, or proclaimed: as, telltale tears; telltale blushes.
7. that gives warning or intimation of something: as, a telltale pipe attached to a cistern or tank.

1. disclosing unintentionally
2. someone who gossips indiscreetly