tally, n. 1. A mark made to record a unit of something counted. From Anglo-Norman taillie, a cutting. 2. Eleven lines scored into a morning, each one a small amputation of the possible. 3. The moment you stop counting and someone says your name across a table. 4. Archaic: a stick split in two, each half kept by one party to a transaction— proof that something was shared only when the halves are matched. 5. Two dots of cadmium yellow that will not stop glowing no matter how dark the canvas gets.