pray tell
Please do share
Pray tell is an archaic or ironic phrase requesting information, now used almost exclusively with sarcasm or mock formality: And where, pray tell, were you last night?
The phrase originally meant "please tell me," with pray as a polite entreaty.
Modern usage signals that the speaker finds something suspicious, absurd, or worthy of pointed questioning.
- beseechPlead urgently with someone
- imploreUrge with desperation
- questionRequest for information
- entreatPlead urgently with someone
- supplicateBeg earnestly and humbly
wryness · plead · sardonicism · invoke · beg · facetiousness · tongue in cheek · forsooth · prithee · solicit · mockery · mock sincerity · oh really · verily · urge · methinks · petition · dry humor
- polite phrasesplease, thank you, yes sir, hello, no sir
- Shakespearean languagethou, thee, thy, thine, doth
- Victorian Exclamationsby Jove, good heavens, good gracious, goodness gracious, bless my soul
- interjectionsah, hey, aha, sheesh, oh
- archaic Englishthou, thee, thy, thine, ye
- Old Englishnu, her, eft, la, thy