8. Tenor; character; spirit; drift; as, the tone of his remarks was commendatory.
9. General or prevailing character or style, as of morals, manners, or sentiment, in reference to a scale of high and low; as, a low tone of morals; a tone of elevated sentiment; a courtly tone of manners.
10. The general effect of a picture produced by the combination of light and shade, together with color in the case of a painting; — commonly used in a favorable sense; as, this picture has tone. Tone color. (Mus.) see the Note under def. 4, above. — Tone syllable, an accented syllable. M. Stuart.
TONE
Tone, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Toned; p. pr. & vb. n. Toning.]
1. To utter with an affected tone.
2. To give tone, or a particular tone, to; to tune. See Tune, v. t.
3. (Photog.)
Defn: To bring, as a print, to a certain required shade of color, as by chemical treatment. To tone down. (a) To cause to give lower tone or sound; to give a lower tone to. (b) (Paint.) To modify, as color, by making it less brilliant or less crude; to modify, as a composition of color, by making it more harmonius. Its thousand hues toned down harmoniusly. C. Kingsley. (c) Fig.: To moderate or relax; to diminish or weaken the striking characteristics of; to soften. The best method for the purpose in hand was to employ some one of a character and position suited to get possession of their confidence, and then use it to tone down their religious strictures. Palfrey. — To tone up, to cause to give a higher tone or sound; to give a higher tone to; to make more intense; to heighten; to strengthen.
TONED
Toned, a.
Defn: Having (such) a tone; — chiefly used in composition; as, high- toned; sweet-toned. Toned paper, paper having a slight tint, in distinction from paper which is quite white.