Sturdy; lusty; hold; spirited; courageous.--Johnson.
Spoke like a tall fellow, that respects his reputation.--Richard III.
They, leaping overboard amidst the billows,
We pluck'd her up, unsunke, like stout tall fellows.--Taylor's Works, 1630.
In the United States, and especially at the South, the word is often used in the analogous sense of great; excellent; fine.
Stump straightened up and started at a pace that would have staggered Capt. Barclay, Ellsworth, or the greatest pedestrian mentioned in the annals of tall walking.'--Kendall's Santa Fé Expedition, Vol. I. p. 393.
A pretty tall excitement came off at Coney Island on Saturday--N. Y. Tribune.
I will walk tall into varmint and Indian: it's a way I've got, and it comes as natural as grinning to a hyena. I'm a regular tornado, tough as hickory, and long-winded as a nor'-wester.--Thorpe's Backwoods, p. 131.
I seed Jess warn't pleased, hut I didn't estimate him very tall, so I kept on dancin' with Sally, and ended by kissin' her good bye, and making him jealous as a pet pinter.--Robb Squatter Life.