tune
nouninterjectionverbcommon in dialogue
- Canada//tɪu̯n//
- //tjuːn//
- //tʃuːn//
- //tuːn//
A melody.
noun
- 1
A melody.
Eric played a catchy tune on his acoustic guitar and Alyssa played the drums.
- 2
A song, or short musical composition.
- 3
informalThe act of tuning or maintenance.
Your engine needs a good tune.
- 4
The state or condition of being correctly tuned.
Your engine is now in tune.
This piano is not in tune.
- 5
obsoleteTemper; frame of mind.
- 6
obsoleteA sound; a note; a tone.
Pray you now, if it may the ſtand with the tune of your voices, that I may bee Conſull, I haue heere the Cuſtomarie Gowne.
- 7
obsoleteOrder; harmony; concord.
A child will learn three times as much when he is in tune, as when he […] is dragged unwillingly to [his task].
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.
interjection
- 1
slangUsed to show appreciation or approval of a song.
You heard the new Rizzle Kicks song? — Tune!
verb
- 1
To adjust (a musical instrument) so that it produces the correct pitches.
to tune a piano or a violin
The Harpe. […] A harper with his wreſt maye tune the harpe wrong / Mys tunying of an Inſtrument ſhal hurt a true ſonge
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.
Fortune foretun'd the Dying Notes of Rome: / Till I, thy Conſul ſole, conſol'd thy Doom.
- 2
To adjust or modify (especially a mechanical or electrical device) so that it functions optimally.
Tuning the engine gave me an extra twenty horsepower.
Tune your mind, and anything becomes possible.
- 3
To adjust the frequency of a transmitter or receiver, such as on a radio or TV transmitter or receiver, so as to send or receive an electromagnetic signal through a desired frequency band or channel.
Tune to Channel 6 for all your favourite daytime shows.
- 4
Of faculties, senses, etc.: to adapt to or direct towards a particular target.
My ears were tuned to the sounds of the forest.
- 5
To make more precise, intense, or effective; to put into a proper state or disposition.
[H]ee hath incurred the euerlaſting diſpleaſure of the King, who had euen tun'd his bounty to ſing happineſſe to him.
- 6
slangTo make more precise, intense, or effective; to put into a proper state or disposition. To produce a particular quality of voice by adjusting singing voice synthesis software.
[…] Those who are highly skilled in manipulating the Vocaloid technology—e.g., tuning Miku's singing voices—arrange existing[…]
LOLA's voice is used simply to render basic notes and words with no pitch or expression tuning applied.
This compiling of a track holds many parallels with “tuning” a Miku track, […]
- 7
To adjust the frequency of a transmitter or receiver, such as on a radio or TV transmitter or receiver, so as to send or receive an electromagnetic signal through a desired frequency band or channel.
- 8
To attune; to adapt in style of music; to make harmonious.
For now to ſorrow must I tune my ſong, / And ſet my Harpe to notes of ſaddeſt wo, […]
- 9
To give a certain tone or character to.
- 10
To set (lyrics) to music.
Ginsberg sang some poems from William Blake which he had "tuned".
- 11
obsoleteTo sing with melody or harmony.
To ſee great Hercules whipping a Gigge, / And profound Sallomon to tune a Iigge.
Fountains and yee, that warble, as ye flow, / Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praiſe.
- 12
slangTo be impudent towards; to cheek.
Are you tuning me?
Forms
- plural
- tunes
- past tense
- tuned
- past participle
- tuned
- present participle
- tuning
- third person singular
- tunes