tell tales out of school
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To reveal secrets or gossip about someone or something
Literally: share stories outside of a learning environment
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
' Now you don't want us telling tales out of school, do you? '
I don't want to tell tales out of school.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “tell tales out of school” mean?
To reveal secrets or gossip about someone or something Literally: share stories outside of a learning environment
Is “tell tales out of school” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.