" tones "

[Noun]  | "tone" | \ ˈtōn \

1: vocal or musical sound of a specific quality; especially : musical sound with respect to timbre and manner of expression

2: a sound of definite pitch and vibration

3: whole step

Origin: 14th century ;

 Middle English ton, tone "musical sound or note, pitch," borrowed from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French ton, tun, toen, borrowed from Latin tonus "strain, tension, musical pitch, note," borrowed from Greek tónos "stretching, tightening, exertion, pitch of the voice, accent in a syllable," nominal derivative from the base of teínein "to stretch, extend" {mat|tenant:1|};

  * Note : As the Oxford English Dictionary, first edition, points out, the phonetic development of tone is peculiar. The normal outcome of medieval French ton in modern English should have been *toun, parallel to sound, noun. If, on the other hand, the vowel of ton had merged with Middle English long close o, the result should have been *toon; toone (glossed as Latin tonus) is in fact rhymed with boone and moone in the rhyming dictionary of Peter Levins (Manipulus Vocabulorum, 1570). The Oxford editors are probably correct in suggesting that the present form of the word is due to repeated reshaping under the influence of the Latin source. Cf. {tune:1|tune:1}.;

[Noun]  | "dial tone" 

1: a tone emitted by a telephone as a signal that the system is ready for dialing

Origin: 1923 ;

[Noun]  | "earth tone" 

1: any of various rich colors containing some brown

Origin: 1973 ;

[Noun]  | "jewel tone" 

1: any of various colors (such as amethyst, emerald, and ruby) that resemble those of gemstones

Origin: 1895 ;

[Noun]  | "leading tone" 

1: the seventh tone of a major or minor scale —called also leading note

Origin: circa 1889 ;

[Noun]  | "quarter tone" 

1: a musical interval of one half a semitone

2: a tone at an interval of one quarter

Origin: 1673 ;

[Verb]  | "tone" 

1: to soften or reduce in intensity, color, appearance, or sound : mellow —often used with down

2: to impart tone to : strengthen; especially : to increase the firmness, strength, or tautness of (a part of the body)

3: to change the normal silver image of (something, such as a photographic print) into a colored image

Origin: 1674 ;

 Derivative of {see: |tone:1|tone:1};

[Noun]  | "tones" 

[Noun]  | "tone" 

[Verb]  | "tones (down)" 

[Verb]  | "tones (up)"