tune
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: note: without the yod-coalescence
ipa: /tjuːn/
note: yod-coalescence
ipa: /tʃuːn/
note: yod-dropping
ipa: /tuːn/
ipa: /tɪu̯n/
rhymes: -uːn
homophone: chewn (yod-coalescence)
homophone: toon (yod-dropping)
Forms: form: tunes
form: tuning
form: tuned
form: tuned
form: toon
Etymology: From Middle English tune, an unexplained variant of tone, from Old French ton, from Latin tonus, from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “a tone”). Doublet of tone, ton, and tonus.
Senses: examples: text: to tune a piano or a violin
text: The Harpe. […] A harper with his wreſt maye tune the harpe wrong / Mys tunying of an Inſtrument ſhal hurt a true ſonge
ref: 1568, William Cornishe [i.e., William Cornysh], “In the Fleete Made by Me William Cornishe otherwise Called Nyshwhete Chapelman with the Most Famose and Noble Kyng Henry the VII. His Reygne the XIX. Yere the Moneth of July. A Treatise betwene Trouth, and Information.”, in John Skelton, edited by J[ohn] S[tow], Pithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate, London: […] Thomas Marshe, →OCLC; republished as Pithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate to King Henry the VIIIth, London: […] C. Davis […], 1736, →OCLC, page 290:
text: She bids me hope; oh Heav'ns; ſhe pities me! / And pity ſtill foreruns approching love; / As Lightning does the Thunder! Tune your Harps / Ye Angels to that ſound; and thou, my Heart, / Make room to entertain thy flowing Joy.
ref: 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act II, page 21:
text: Fortune foretun'd the Dying Notes of Rome: / Till I, thy Conſul ſole, conſol'd thy Doom.
ref: 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Tenth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 199, lines 190–191:
glosses: To adjust (a musical instrument) so that it produces the correct pitches.
examples: text: Tuning the engine gave me an extra twenty horsepower.
text: Tune your mind, and anything becomes possible.
coordinate_terms: dial in
glosses: To adjust or modify (especially a mechanical or electrical device) so that it functions optimally.
examples: text: Tune to Channel 6 for all your favourite daytime shows.
synonyms: tune in
glosses: To adjust the frequency on a radio or TV set, so as to receive the desired channel.
examples: text: My ears were tuned to the sounds of the forest.
glosses: Of faculties, senses, etc.: to adapt to or direct towards a particular target.
examples: text: [H]ee hath incurred the euerlaſting diſpleaſure of the King, who had euen tun'd his bounty to ſing happineſſe to him.
ref: c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 246, column 2:
glosses: To make more precise, intense, or effective; to put into a proper state or disposition.
examples: text: For now to ſorrow must I tune my ſong, / And ſet my Harpe to notes of ſaddeſt wo, […]
ref: c. 1630, John Milton, “The Passion”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, stanza II, page 17:
glosses: To attune; to adapt in style of music; to make harmonious.
glosses: To give a certain tone or character to.
examples: text: Ginsberg sang some poems from William Blake which he had "tuned".
ref: 1977 April 9, Charley Shively, “Ginsberg Triumphant”, in Gay Community News, page 12:
glosses: To set (lyrics) to music.
examples: text: To ſee great Hercules whipping a Gigge, / And profound Sallomon to tune a Iigge.
ref: c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC; republished as Shakspere’s Loves Labours Lost (Shakspere-Quarto Facsimiles; no. 5), London: W[illiam] Griggs, […], [1880], →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:
text: Fountains and yee, that warble, as ye flow, / Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praiſe.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 195-196:
glosses: To sing with melody or harmony.
examples: text: Are you tuning me?
glosses: To be impudent towards; to cheek.
examples: text: […] Those who are highly skilled in manipulating the Vocaloid technology—e.g., tuning Miku's singing voices—arrange existing[…]
ref: 2017 August 10, Keisuke Yamada, Supercell's Supercell featuring Hatsune Miku, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, →ISBN:
text: LOLA's voice is used simply to render basic notes and words with no pitch or expression tuning applied.
ref: 2018 December 6, Nina Sun Eidsheim, The Race of Sound: Listening, Timbre, and Vocality in African American Music, Duke University Press, →ISBN:
text: This compiling of a track holds many parallels with “tuning” a Miku track, […]
ref: 2020, Janice L. Waldron, Stephanie Horsley, Kari K. Veblen, The Oxford Handbook of Social Media and Music Learning, Oxford University Press, USA, →ISBN, page 522:
topics: lifestyle
glosses: to adjust the parameters of singing voice synthesis software such as VOCALOID (in order to achieve certain singing techniques, increase the human quality of the voice, etc.)
Derived terms: fine-tune
stay tuned
tune down
tune in
tune in, turn on, drop out
tune out
tuner
tune up
Related terms: attune