pray tell

pray tell

expression Please tell me (about something). Pray tell, will your lovely wife be accompanying you to the gala this evening? A: "Sir, we have received news of the king's response." B: "Pray tell!"
See also: pray, tell
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • tell the truth and shame the devil
  • tell (one) about (someone or something)
  • tell about
  • tell
  • I can tell you
  • phone up
  • tell one to face
  • kiss and tell
  • kiss and tell, to
  • kiss-and-tell
References in classic literature
"O GRANDFATHER, dear Grandfather," cried little Alice, "pray tell us some more stories about your chair!"
Grandfathers Chair
If you think it right to communicate the contents of this letter to Miss Vanstone, pray tell her that it will not be my fault if her sister's assertion (however preposterous it may seem to my uncle's executors) is not fairly put to the proof.
No Name
But pray tell me, my brethren, if the goal of humanity be still lacking, is there not also still lacking--humanity itself?--
Thus Spake Zarathustra
I am irretrievably undone."--"Heaven forbid!" answered the waiting-woman; "but if I can't be of any service to you, pray tell me, madam--it will be some comfort to me to know--pray, dear ma'am, tell me what's the matter."--"My father," cries Sophia, "is going to marry me to a man I both despise and hate."--"O dear, ma'am," answered the other, "who is this wicked man?
The History of Tom Jones a Foundling
'I don't understand you, Arthur (at least I hope I don't): pray tell me what I have done or said amiss.'
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Pray tell me if you know.' 'Then as you have spoken to me kindly, and are wise enough to seek for advice, I will tell you how and where to go.
Fairy Tales
"Well, then," answered Aramis, "pray tell me a day or two beforehand, that I may take that opportunity of going to Paris."
Twenty Years After
"No; only the time to ask a question." Then, turning towards the sailor, "My friend," asked he with an emotion which, in spite of all his self-command, he could not conceal, "whose soldiers are these, pray tell me?"
Ten Years Later
So pray tell him that the world contains more land than water, and when he has heard your judgment I will carry him back and dump him into his pool, where I hope he will be more modest in the future."
The Emerald City of Oz
'Then pray tell me where it is,' said Kit, 'for I have come on a pressing matter, and must fetch her out, even if she was in the pulpit.'
The Old Curiosity Shop
Good, generous, Mr Clennam, pray tell me you do not blame me.'
Little Dorrit
"And now, though I know you have already done it in your own kind hearts, pray tell me, both, that you forgive me!
Great Expectations
Alden hindi pa rin mawawasak ang record ni Daniel Padilla sa Star Cinema kahit mag-P1B ang 'HLG.' (What does this have to do with Alden's accomplishment, pray tell?)
When reality bites miss prima donna
Billy Porter's character is Pray Tell, an emcee to balls, a designer and a mentor to members of houses.
Billy Porter nominated for an Emmy Lead Actor Award; a first for openly gay black men
The star, who plays ballroom MC Pray Tell in the show, is currently on a vacation with his husband and friends in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Billy Porter in talks with designers for his Emmy 2019 red-carpet look