"pray tell" meaning in All languages combined

See pray tell on Wiktionary

Interjection [English]

Audio: En-au-pray tell.ogg [Australia]
Etymology: From pray (“ask (politely)”) + tell (“explain”). Head templates: {{en-interj}} pray tell
  1. (archaic) Please explain (something the requester does not yet understand). Tags: archaic Synonyms: do tell (english: not often sarcastic)
    Sense id: en-pray_tell-en-intj-YkNfSwKg Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English imperative sentences, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 54 46 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 61 39 Disambiguation of English imperative sentences: 59 41 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 55 45
  2. (idiomatic, usually sarcastic) Expressing incredulity, please explain (some claim or position the speaker doubts). Tags: idiomatic, sarcastic, usually
    Sense id: en-pray_tell-en-intj-LMnNh1vi Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 54 46 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 55 45

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for pray tell meaning in All languages combined (2.6kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "From pray (“ask (politely)”) + tell (“explain”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "pray tell",
      "name": "en-interj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "intj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "54 46",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "61 39",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "59 41",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English imperative sentences",
          "parents": [
            "Imperative sentences",
            "Sentences"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "55 45",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Pray tell us, how will they fare while you are away?",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Please explain (something the requester does not yet understand)."
      ],
      "id": "en-pray_tell-en-intj-YkNfSwKg",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(archaic) Please explain (something the requester does not yet understand)."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "58 42",
          "english": "not often sarcastic",
          "word": "do tell"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "54 46",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "55 45",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "But how, pray tell, do you \"notice\" something that happens when you're asleep?",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Expressing incredulity, please explain (some claim or position the speaker doubts)."
      ],
      "id": "en-pray_tell-en-intj-LMnNh1vi",
      "links": [
        [
          "sarcastic",
          "sarcastic"
        ],
        [
          "incredulity",
          "incredulity"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, usually sarcastic) Expressing incredulity, please explain (some claim or position the speaker doubts)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "sarcastic",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-pray tell.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5c/En-au-pray_tell.ogg/En-au-pray_tell.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/En-au-pray_tell.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "pray tell"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
    "English imperative sentences",
    "English interjections",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From pray (“ask (politely)”) + tell (“explain”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "pray tell",
      "name": "en-interj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "intj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with archaic senses",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Pray tell us, how will they fare while you are away?",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Please explain (something the requester does not yet understand)."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(archaic) Please explain (something the requester does not yet understand)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English sarcastic terms",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "But how, pray tell, do you \"notice\" something that happens when you're asleep?",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Expressing incredulity, please explain (some claim or position the speaker doubts)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "sarcastic",
          "sarcastic"
        ],
        [
          "incredulity",
          "incredulity"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, usually sarcastic) Expressing incredulity, please explain (some claim or position the speaker doubts)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "sarcastic",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-pray tell.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5c/En-au-pray_tell.ogg/En-au-pray_tell.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/En-au-pray_tell.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "english": "not often sarcastic",
      "word": "do tell"
    }
  ],
  "word": "pray tell"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-06-04 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (e9e0a99 and db5a844). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.