[f. TUNE sb.]
I. 1. trans. To adjust the tones of (a musical instrument) to a standard of pitch; to bring into condition for producing the required sounds correctly; to put in tune. Also absol.
1505. Tower of Doctrine, xxvi., in Percy’s Reliq. With goodly pypes, in their mouthes ituned.
1513. Bradshaw, St. Werburge, I. 1696. A synguler mynstrell … Toyned his instrument in pleasaunte armony.
1530. Palsgr., 763/2. I pray you, tune my virgynalles.
1567. Triall Treas. (1850), 16. I must tune my pipes first of all by drinking.
1584. Greene, Anat. Fort., Wks. (Grosart), III. 187. I thought … that where fortune once tuned, in the strings could neuer be founde anie discord.
1597. 1st Pt. Return fr. Parnass., V. i. 1978. Letts tune our instruments.
1638. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), II. 142. Mr Dallam for tuneing the Organ.
1681. Dryden, Span. Friar, II. i. 21. Tune your Harps Ye Angels to that sound.
1871. Tyndall, Fragm. Sc. (1879), I. iii. 81. These two tuning-forks are tuned absolutely alike.
b. To adapt (the voice, song, etc.) to a particular tone, or to the expression of a particular feeling or subject; to modify or modulate the tones of, according to the purpose in view.
† In 1688, to adapt (a song) to a particular instrument (obs.).
1596. Spenser, F. Q., VI. x. 7. Nymphes and Faeries … to the waters fall tuning their accents fit.
c. 1630. Milton, Passion, 8. For now to sorrow must I tune my song.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 201/2. Odes [are] Songs Tuned to the Lute, or other Instrument.
1702. Pope, Sappho, 8. Love … tun’d my heart to Elegies of woe.
1751. Transl. & Paraphr. Ch. Scot., XLIII. iv. His presence fills each heart with joy: tunes every mouth to sing.
1852. Miss Yonge, Cameos, I. xxxiii. 282. The bards tuned their songs to recall the indignities of Islington.
c. transf. To adapt, put into accordance, or make responsive, in respect of some physical quality or condition; e.g., an organ or organism in relation to a particular stimulus, or the transmitter and receiver in wireless telegraphy.
1887. Lockyer, Chem. Sun, vii. 87. Ears are tuned to hear different sounds.
1900. Daily News, 6 Sept., 2/4. ‘Tapping’ the messages is quite impossible, the transmitter and receiver being so ‘tuned’ or synchronized to each other that no message can be received except by the instrument for which it is intended.
1904. Electr. World & Engin., 11 June, 1120. The distance between the transmitter and receiver was varied from two meters to twenty meters. No effort was made to ‘tune’ the circuits.
d. transf. To set (a machine, etc.) in order for accurate working; to adjust. local. (Cf. TUNER 2 b.) See also 8 c, and TUNING 1 c.
1814. W. Nicholson, in Trotter, E. Galloway Sk. (1901), 44/1. I wot a pleugh he weel could tune.
1891. [see TUNING vbl. sb. 1 c].
c. 1904. in Eng. Dial. Dict., s.v., He tunes his own loom (w. Yks.).
2. fig. To ‘put in tune’ (with various shades of meaning). a. To bring into a proper or desirable condition; to give a special tone or character (esp. of a good kind) to.
1530. Rastell, Bk. Purgat., II. xviii. Curyng & tunyng his body.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, II. xviii. (1647), 68. All his life was religiously tuned.
c. 1811. Fuseli, in Lect. Paint., v. (1848), 461. Violent foreshortening, set off and tuned by magic light and shade.
1866. G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., xiii. The place … tuned me to a solemn mood.
b. To bring into accord or harmony; to attune. Also intr. for refl. to attune itself, to harmonize (quot. 1653).
1590. Marlowe, Edw. II., IV. ii. Thou art deceiv’d,… To think that we can yet be tun’d together.
1653. Holcroft, Procopius, IV. 137. Mens judgements ever thus tune to that which pleases their wills.
a. 1711. Ken, Hymnotheo, Poet. Wks. 1721, III. 310. They both were tun’d with equal Sympathy.
c. To put into a proper condition for producing some effect; to adapt to a particular purpose; esp. to make subservient to one’s own ends.
1581. Pettie, Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., III. (1586), 168 b. The maister is troubled to tune his new seruaunts to his fancie.
1636. W. Scot, Apol. Narr. (1846), 93. Mr. Thomas Buchanan tuned and tutored him as he saw it fitting.
a. 1722. Fountainhall, Decis. (1759), I. 184. A Scots Council is instantly called, who … fly very high, as they had been tuned.
1868. J. H. Blunt. Ref. Ch. Eng., I. 161. The most effective way, except the pulpit, of tuning public opinion. Ibid. (1882), II. 483. The pulpits were industriously tuned by means of lecturers.
3. intr. To give forth a musical sound; to sound; to sing.
c. 1500. Proverbs, in Antiq. Rep. (1809), IV. 407. A Shawme makithe a swete sounde, for he tunythe basse.
c. 1580–1627. [implied in TUNER 1].
1760–72. [see TUNING vbl. sb. 2].
1906. Westm. Gaz., 10 Nov., 14/2. Last week … I heard a blackbird tuning.
1907. Galsworthy, Country Ho., I. i. Like a breeze tuning through the frigid silence of a fog.
b. with to: To sing or sound in tune with (intr. of 1 b).
1627. Drayton, Quest of Cynthia, xxxiv. Tuning to the waters fall, The small Birds sang to her.
1755. Johnson, Tune, to form one sound to another.
c. To utter inarticulate musical notes or melody; to hum. dial.
1755. Johnson, To Tune, v.n. … 2. To utter with the voice inarticulate harmony.
1848. A. B. Evans, Leicester. Words, s.v., My children could tune before they could speak.
1882. in Ogilvie.
4. trans. To utter or express (something) musically, to sing; to celebrate in music. poet. or arch.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 1107. The little birds that tune their mornings ioy.
1667. Milton, P. L., V. 196. Fountains and yee that warble, as ye flow, Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praise.
1678. Dryden & Lee, Œdipus, I. i. Rouze up ye Thebans; tune your Io Pæans!
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 542. To Bacchus … let us tune our Lays.
1791. Burns, Lament for Glencairn, ii. As he tuned his doleful sang.
a. 1814. A. Burn, in Mem., iii. (1816), 135. Tuning a hymn of thanksgiving to her praise.
† b. To set or start the tune for (a hymn, etc., in public worship), as a precentor. Obs.
1667. Pepys, Diary, 21 April. The organ, which is handsome, and tunes the psalm.
1679. Marriage Chas. II., 10. The Cardinal tun’d the Te deum, which was sung with musick.
1895. J. Brown, Pilgr. Fathers, xi. 349. The ‘tuning the psalm’ as it was called was left to some member of the congregation who volunteered the performance.
5. To produce music from, to play upon (an instrument), esp. the lyre. poet.
1701. Addison, Epil. to Granville’s Brit. Enchant., Wks. 1721, I. 142. When Orpheus tun’d his lyre … Rivers forgot to run, and winds to blow.
1746. Francis, trans. Horace, Epist., I. iii. 16. To tune to Theban Sounds the Roman Lyres.
II. With adverbs.
6. Tune in. intr. To strike into a chorus; to interpose in a conversation.
1912. World, 7 May, 680/1. The … Passenger is preparing to continue the cross-examination, when an old lady carrying a long broom tunes in.
7. Tune off. intr. To get out of ‘tune’ or adjustment.
1703. T. N., City & C. Purchaser (1736), Raking-Work, that which (… in Mouldings, etc.) is to be join’d by Mitering exactly, to prevent the Work tuneing off, as Workmen call it, after ’tis put together.
8. Tune up. a. trans. and intr. To raise one’s voice (in song or otherwise), to sing out (cf. 3).
1701. Stanhope, St. Aug. Medit., xxvi. 54. Let us tune our Voices up with theirs.
1763. T. Smith, Jrnl. (1849), 274. The robin and spring birds begin to tune up.
1895. J. G. Millais, Breath fr. Veldt (1899), 202. I have heard an old cow tune up in like manner.
b. trans. To bring (an instrument) up to the proper pitch, to put in tune (= 1); also absol.; also fig. (cf. 2).
a. 1718. Penn, Maxims, Wks. 1726, I. 830. We are too apt to awaken and tune up their [Children’s] Passions by the Example of our own.
1776. Graves, Euphrosyne, I. 224. Each Cockney that tunes up his lyre.
1902. Violet Jacob, Sheep-Stealers, x. The band began to tune up, and a general feeling of expectation pervaded the building.
c. To put (a machine, a racing vessel, etc.) into the most efficient working order (cf. 1 d).
1901. Daily Chron., 24 Aug., 5/7. The … captain will keep all hands at work tuning her [a yacht] up until she is able to show all the speed she has in her.
1908. Westm. Gaz., 31 Dec., 4/2. The art of tuning up a car is understood by very few amateurs, who … are satisfied with results which could be improved upon.
