tal•ly
Pronunciation: (tal'ē), [key]
— n., pl. v., -lies, -lied, -ly•ing.
—n.
- an account or reckoning; a record of debit and credit, of the score of a game, or the like.
- Also calleda stick of wood with notches cut to indicate the amount of a debt or payment, often split lengthwise across the notches, the debtor retaining one piece and the creditor the other.
- anything on which a score or account is kept.
- a notch or mark made on or in a tally.
- a number or group of items recorded.
- a mark made to register a certain number of items, as four consecutive vertical lines with a diagonal line through them to indicate a group of five.
- a number of objects serving as a unit of computation.
- a ticket, label, or mark used as a means of identification, classification, etc.
- anything corresponding to another thing as a counterpart or duplicate.
—v.t.
- to mark or enter on a tally; register; record.
- to count or reckon up.
- to furnish with a tally or identifying label.
- to cause to correspond or agree.
—v.i.
- to correspond, as one part of a tally with the other; accord or agree: Does his story tally with hers?
- to score a point or make a goal, as in a game.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.