tally: Meaning and Definition of

tal•ly

Pronunciation: (tal'ē), [key]
— n., pl. v., -lies, -lied, -ly•ing.
—n.
  1. an account or reckoning; a record of debit and credit, of the score of a game, or the like.
  2. 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.
  3. anything on which a score or account is kept.
  4. a notch or mark made on or in a tally.
  5. a number or group of items recorded.
  6. 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.
  7. a number of objects serving as a unit of computation.
  8. a ticket, label, or mark used as a means of identification, classification, etc.
  9. anything corresponding to another thing as a counterpart or duplicate.
—v.t.
  1. to mark or enter on a tally; register; record.
  2. to count or reckon up.
  3. to furnish with a tally or identifying label.
  4. to cause to correspond or agree.
—v.i.
  1. to correspond, as one part of a tally with the other; accord or agree: Does his story tally with hers?
  2. to score a point or make a goal, as in a game.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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