Tally

Tally, tal′i, n. a stick cut or notched to match another stick, used to mark numbers or keep accounts by—(down to the beginning of the 19th century these were used in England for keeping accounts in Exchequer, answering the double purpose of receipts and public records): anything made to suit another:—pl. Tall′ies.—v.t. to score with corresponding notches: to make to fit.—v.i. to correspond: to suit:—pa.t. and pa.p. tall′ied.—ns. Tall′ier, one who keeps a tally; Tall′yman, one who keeps a tally-shop: one who lives with a woman without marriage; Tall′yshop, a shop where goods are sold to be paid by instalments, the seller having one account-book which tallies with the buyer's; Tall′y-sys′tem, -trade, a mode of dealing by which dealers furnish certain articles on credit to their customers upon an agreement for the payment of the stipulated price by certain weekly or monthly instalments.—Live tally, to cohabit without marriage. [Fr. taille (It. taglia)—L. talea, a cutting. Cf. Tail (law).]