Tallies

Tallies
Tally Tal"ly, n.; pl. {Tallies}. [OE. taile, taille, F. taille a cutting, cut tally, fr. tailler to cut, but influenced probably by taill['e], p. p. of tailler. See {Tailor}, and cf. {Tail} a limitation, {Taille}, {Tallage}.] 1. Originally, a piece of wood on which notches or scores were cut, as the marks of number; later, one of two books, sheets of paper, etc., on which corresponding accounts were kept. [1913 Webster]

Note: In purshasing and selling, it was once customary for traders to have two sticks, or one stick cleft into two parts, and to mark with a score or notch, on each, the number or quantity of goods delivered, -- the seller keeping one stick, and the purchaser the other. Before the use of writing, this, or something like it, was the only method of keeping accounts; and tallies were received as evidence in courts of justice. In the English exchequer were tallies of loans, one part being kept in the exchequer, the other being given to the creditor in lieu of an obligation for money lent to government. [1913 Webster]

2. Hence, any account or score kept by notches or marks, whether on wood or paper, or in a book; especially, one kept in duplicate. [1913 Webster]

3. One thing made to suit another; a match; a mate. [1913 Webster]

They were framed the tallies for each other. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

4. A notch, mark, or score made on or in a tally; as, to make or earn a tally in a game. [1913 Webster]

5. A tally shop. See {Tally shop}, below. [1913 Webster]

{Tally shop}, a shop at which goods or articles are sold to customers on account, the account being kept in corresponding books, one called the tally, kept by the buyer, the other the counter tally, kept by the seller, and the payments being made weekly or otherwise by agreement. The trade thus regulated is called tally trade. --Eng. Encyc.

{To strike tallies}, to act in correspondence, or alike. [Obs.] --Fuller. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • tallies of loan — Bills of credit which were issued by the officers of the English exchequer when a temporary loan wits necessary to meet the exigencies of government. They were first termed “tallies of loans and orders of repayment,” charged on the credit of the… …   Ballentine's law dictionary

  • tallies — tal·ly || tælɪ n. reckoning, score, total; something on which an account or score is kept; mark made to keep record of a number of items v. add up, total, reckon; list, record; correspond, be in agreement; keep a record of …   English contemporary dictionary

  • tallies — plural of tally present third singular of tally …   Useful english dictionary

  • tallies of loan — A term originally used in England to describe exchequer bills, which were issued by the officers of the exchequer when a temporary loan was necessary to meet the exigencies of the government, and charged on the credit of the exchequer in general …   Black's law dictionary

  • To strike tallies — Tally Tal ly, n.; pl. {Tallies}. [OE. taile, taille, F. taille a cutting, cut tally, fr. tailler to cut, but influenced probably by taill[ e], p. p. of tailler. See {Tailor}, and cf. {Tail} a limitation, {Taille}, {Tallage}.] 1. Originally, a… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Writer of the tallies — Writer Writ er, n. [AS. wr[=i]tere.] [1913 Webster] 1. One who writes, or has written; a scribe; a clerk. [1913 Webster] They [came] that handle the pen of the writer. Judg. v. 14. [1913 Webster] My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Ps. xlv. 1 …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • cutter of the tallies — /katar av 5a taeliyz/ In old English law, an officer in the exchequer, to whom it belonged to provide wood for the tallies, and to cut the sum paid upon them, etc …   Black's law dictionary

  • cutter of the tallies — /katar av 5a taeliyz/ In old English law, an officer in the exchequer, to whom it belonged to provide wood for the tallies, and to cut the sum paid upon them, etc …   Black's law dictionary

  • writer of the tallies — /raytar sv da taeliyz/ In England, an officer of the exchequer whose duty it was to write upon the tallies the letters of tellers bills …   Black's law dictionary

  • Tally stick — A tally (or tally stick) was an ancient memory aid device to record and document numbers, quantities, or even messages. Tally sticks first appear as notches carved on animal bones, in the Upper Paleolithic. A notable example is the Ishango Bone.… …   Wikipedia

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