tune
See also: Tune, tuné, and -tune
English
Etymology
From Middle English tune, an unexplained variant of tone[1], from Old French ton, from Latin tonus, from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “a tone”). Doublet of tone, ton, and tonus.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /tjuːn/, /tʃuːn/
Audio (UK) (file)
- (US) IPA(key): /tun/, /tjun/
Audio (US) (file)
- Rhymes: -uːn
- Homophone: chewn (among those with yod-coalescence in stressed syllables)
Noun
tune (countable and uncountable, plural tunes)
- A melody.
- A song, or short musical composition.
- (informal) The act of tuning or maintenance.
- Your engine needs a good tune.
- The state or condition of being correctly tuned.
- Your engine is now in tune.
- This piano is not in tune.
- (obsolete) Temper; frame of mind.
- (obsolete) A sound; a note; a tone.
- c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene iii], page 12, column 2:
- 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.
-
- (obsolete) Order; harmony; concord.
- 1693, [John Locke], “§72”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], OCLC 1161614482, page 76:
- A child will learn three times as much when he is in tune, as when he […] is dragged unwillingly to [his task].
-
Derived terms
- call the tune
- can't carry a tune in a bucket
- carry a tune
- change one's tune
- dance to a different tune
- dance to a new tune
- dance to someone's tune
- in tune
- loony tune
- out of tune
- showtune, show tune
- signature tune
- sing a different tune
- sing the same tune
- subtune
- to the tune of
- tuneful
- tuneless
- tunelike
- tunemeister
- tunesmith
- tunewise
- tuny
- who pays the piper calls the tune
Related terms
- tone
Translations
melody
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song, short musical composition
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informal: act of tuning
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state of being correctly tuned
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Interjection
tune
- (UK, slang) Used to show appreciation or approval of a song.
- You heard the new Rizzle Kicks song? — Tune!
Verb
tune (third-person singular simple present tunes, present participle tuning, simple past and past participle tuned)
- To adjust (a musical instrument) so that it produces the correct pitches.
- to tune a piano or a violin
- 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; J[ohn] S[tow], editor, Pithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate, London: […] Thomas Marshe, OCLC 54747393; republished as Pithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate to King Henry the VIIIth, London: […] C. Davis […], 1736, OCLC 731569711, page 290:
- The Harpe. […] A harper with his wreſt maye tune the harpe wrong
Mys tunying of an Inſtrument ſhal hurt a true ſonge
- 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 6484883, Act II, page 21:
- 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.
- 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: Printed for Jacob Tonson […], OCLC 80026745, page 199:
- Fortune foretun'd the Dying Notes of Rome:
Till I, thy Conſul ſole, conſol'd thy Doom.
- To adjust or modify (esp. 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.
- To adjust the frequency on a radio or TV set, so as to receive the desired channel.
- Tune to Channel 6 for all your favourite daytime shows.
- Of faculties, senses, etc.: to adapt to or direct towards a particular target.
- My ears were tuned to the sounds of the forest.
- To make more precise, intense, or effective; to put into a proper state or disposition.
- c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s VVell, that Ends VVell”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene iii], page 246, column 2:
- [H]ee hath incurred the euerlaſting diſpleaſure of the King, who had euen tun'd his bounty to ſing happineſſe to him.
-
- To attune; to adapt in style of music; to make harmonious.
- c. 1630, John Milton, “The Passion”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, OCLC 606951673, stanza II, page 17:
- For now to ſorrow must I tune my ſong,
And ſet my Harpe to notes of ſaddeſt wo, […]
-
- (transitive) To give a certain tone or character to.
- (obsolete) To sing with melody or harmony.
- 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 61366361; republished as Shakspere’s Loves Labours Lost (Shakspere-Quarto Facsimiles; no. 5), London: W[illiam] Griggs, […], [1880], OCLC 1154977408, [Act IV, scene iii]:
- To ſee great Hercules whipping a Gigge,
And profound Sallomon to tune a Iigge.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554, lines 195-196:
- Fountains and yee, that warble, as ye flow,
Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praiſe.
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- (transitive, South Africa, slang) To be impudent towards; to cheek.
- Are you tuning me?
- (fandom slang) 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.)
- 2017 August 10, Keisuke Yamada, Supercell's Supercell featuring Hatsune Miku, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, →ISBN:
- […] Those who are highly skilled in manipulating the Vocaloid technology—e.g., tuning Miku's singing voices—arrange existing […]
- 2018 December 6, Nina Sun Eidsheim, The Race of Sound: Listening, Timbre, and Vocality in African American Music, Duke University Press, →ISBN:
- LOLA's voice is used simply to render basic notes and words with no pitch or expression tuning applied.
- 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:
- This compiling of a track holds many parallels with “tuning” a Miku track, […]
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Derived terms
- fine-tune
- stay tuned
- tune in
- tune in, turn on, drop out
- tune out
- tuner
- tune up
Related terms
- attune
Translations
to adjust a musical instrument
|
to adjust (e.g. a mechanical or electrical device) so that it functions optimally
|
to adjust the frequency on a radio or TV set, so as to receive the desired channel
|
to adapt to or direct towards a particular target
to make more precise, intense, or effective
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to adjust the parameters of singing voice synthesis software
|
References
- http://www.dictionary.com/browse/tune?s=t
Further reading
- tune in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- tune in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
Anagrams
- Nute, neut, neut.
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /tyn/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
tune f (plural tunes)
- (slang) Alternative spelling of thune
Further reading
- “tune”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
- tenu
German
Verb
tune
- inflection of tunen:
- first-person singular present
- first/third-person singular subjunctive I
- singular imperative
Middle English
Noun
tune
- Alternative form of toun
Ngarrindjeri
Noun
tune
- sand
Portuguese
Verb
tune
- inflection of tunar:
- first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- third-person singular imperative
Romanian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈtune]
Verb
tune
- third-person singular/plural present subjunctive of tuna
Spanish
Verb
tune
- inflection of tunar:
- first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- third-person singular imperative
Tarantino
Pronoun
tune (personal, second person singular)
- you
tune m (possessive, feminine toje)
- your