(language,dated) A whining style of speaking; a kind of mournful or artificial strain of voice; an affected speaking with a measured rhythm and a regular rise and fall of the voice.
The strange situation I am in and the melancholy state of public affairs,[…] drag the mind down[…] from a philosophicaltone or temper, to the drudgery of private and public business.
Her rousing speech gave an upbeattone to the rest of the evening.
2016 July 25, Megan McDermott, “'Repeal the 8th' mural in Project Arts Centre in Temple Bar removed”, inIrish Times[1]:
Mr O'Brien confirmed the warning from the council was based on the fact that the structure the mural was painted on was not a temporary one and on the claim that it changes thetone of the street and impacts on the area.
2016 December 30, Francine Kopun, “Sleepy Yonge and St. Clair gets a makeover”, inToronto Star[2]:
Manuel expects that once 2 St. Clair West is done it will change thetone of the neighbourhood.
2022 December 2, “Many solutions, some small, needed to tackle addictions in the N.W.T.”, inCBC[3]:
"What struck me most was not necessarily what was said but ... thetone of the room, ... the fear and anxiety that people have for their family members who are currently in the grip of addiction," Green said.
(Chiefly in the formlower/raise the tone of something) The quality of beingrespectable oradmirable.
1904, May Sinclair,The Divine Fire, H. Holt, page340:
"I am going to raise thetone of the business. That's wot I want you for. To raise thetone of the business."
1911, Charles Augustus Jenkens,The Bride's Return, Or, How Grand Avenue Church Came to Christ, C.H. Robinson, page67:
The teaching we have had of late has lowered thetone of Christianity, as the remarks by the two gentlemen who preceded me will attest; and, instead of producing stalwart manhood, it has generated a brood of mountebanks. Give us a pure Gospel or a vacant pulpit!
2015 July 9, Simon Leo Brown, “St Kilda's Fitzroy Street left to rot says hotel owner”, inABC News[4]:
But Mr Fagan said thetone of the street was brought down by the presence of people he termed "the Gatwickians" — residents of a rooming house called the Gatwick Private Hotel.
2016 July 11, Leah McLaren, “After Brexit, a political revolution in the U.K.—for women”, inMaclean's[5]:
But for anyone hoping that what proved to be a brief two-way female Tory leadership race might have raised thetone of British politics—currently at an all-time low after the vicious backroom machinations of Brexit referendum—the news wasn't promising.
2017 December 11, Michael Hann, “C7 bulbs or C9s? How Christmas lights became a nerdy obsession”, inThe Guardian[6]:
That story is replicated wherever there is a brightly decorated house and a neighbour who cares about thetone of the street.
