tall: [14] The ancestral meaning of tall is ‘quick’. It is a descendant of Old English get?l ‘quick, ready’, whose relatives included Old Frisian tel and Old High German gizal ‘quick’, and which may go back ultimately to the prehistoric Germanic base *tal- (source of English tale, talk, and tell). By the time of its re-emergence in Middle English it was being used for ‘brave, bold’, but the modern sense ‘of great height’ did not develop until the 16th century.
tall (adj.)
"high in stature," 1520s, probably from Middle English tal "handsome, good-looking; valiant; lively in speech; large, big; humble, meek," from Old English get?l "prompt, active," from Germanic *(ge)-tala- (cognates: Old High German gi-zal "quick," Gothic un-tals "indocile"). Main modern sense "being of more than average height (and slim in proportion to height)" probably evolved out of earlier meanings "brave, valiant, seemly, proper" (c. 1400), "attractive, handsome" (late 14c.).
Sense evolution is "remarkable" [OED], but adjectives applied to persons can wander far in meaning (such as pretty, buxom, German klein "small, little," which in Middle High German meant the same as its English cognate clean (adj.)). Meaning "having a (defined) height," whether lofty or not is from 1580s. Meaning "exaggerated" (as in tall tale) is American English colloquial attested by 1846. Phrase tall, dark, and handsome is recorded from 1906. Related: Tallness.
例文
1. He was a tall ，thin man with grey hair.
彼は背が高く、髪の毛が灰色である。
2.Lovett was a tall ，commanding man with a waxed gray mustache.
ロビットは威厳のある背の高い男で、灰色の八の字胡をたくわえている。
3.The windows overlooked a lawn of tall waving grass.
窓の外は芝生で、高い草が風に揺れている。
4.I 'm only 5 ft tall ，and I look younger than my age.