paper vs tell

paper

verb
  • To document; to memorialize. 

  • To apply paper to. 

  • To paste the endpapers and flyleaves at the beginning and end of a book before fitting it into its covers. 

  • To submit official papers to (a law court, etc.). 

  • To enfold in paper. 

  • To fill (a theatre or other paid event) with complimentary seats. 

  • To give public notice (typically by displaying posters) that a person is wanted by the police or other authority. 

  • To sandpaper. 

adj
  • Insubstantial (from the weakness of common paper) 

  • Made of paper. 

  • Planned (from plans being drawn up on paper) 

  • Having a title that is merely official, or given by courtesy or convention. 

noun
  • A written document that reports scientific or academic research and is usually subjected to peer review before publication in a scientific journal (as a journal article or the manuscript for one) or in the proceedings of a scientific or academic meeting (such as a conference, workshop, or symposium). 

  • A sheet material used for writing on or printing on (or as a non-waterproof container), usually made by draining cellulose fibres from a suspension in water. 

  • A scholastic essay. 

  • A written document, generally shorter than a book (white paper, term paper), in particular one written for the Government. 

  • Any financial assets other than specie. 

  • A paper packet containing a quantity of items. 

  • Wallpaper. 

  • A newspaper or anything used as such (such as a newsletter or listing magazine). 

  • An open hand (a handshape resembling a sheet of paper), that beats rock and loses to scissors. It loses to lizard and beats Spock in rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock. 

  • Wrapping paper. 

  • A set of examination questions to be answered at one session. 

  • Money. 

  • A university course. 

  • A medicinal preparation spread upon paper, intended for external application. 

  • A substance resembling paper secreted by certain invertebrates as protection for their nests and eggs. 

tell

verb
  • To narrate. 

  • To order; to direct, to say to someone. 

  • To instruct or inform. 

  • To reveal. 

  • To convey by speech; to say. 

  • To reveal information in prose through outright expository statement -- contrasted with show 

  • To count, reckon, or enumerate. 

  • To have an effect, especially a noticeable one; to be apparent, to be demonstrated. 

  • To inform someone in authority about a wrongdoing. 

  • To discern, notice, identify or distinguish. 

  • To be revealed. 

  • To use (beads or similar objects) as an aid to prayer. 

noun
  • A private message to an individual in a chat room; a whisper. 

  • A hill or mound, originally and especially in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements. 

  • A reflexive, often habitual behavior, especially one occurring in a context that often features attempts at deception by persons under psychological stress (such as a poker game or police interrogation), that reveals information that the person exhibiting the behavior is attempting to withhold. 

How often have the words paper and tell occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )