tune, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

tune v.

[? to get a fig. tune – positive or otherwise – from one’s target]

1. (also tune up) to beat, to thrash, thus n. tune-up, tuning, a beating.

c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Tune. To beat: his father Tuned him heartily: Probably an allusion to the disagreeable uttered by the [illegible] during the operation. Simil;ar to those of instruments when Tuning.
1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn) n.p.: To Tune. To beat: his father tuned him delightfully: perhaps from fetching a tune out of the person beaten, or from a comparison with the disagreeable sounds of instruments when tuning.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1788].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 92: ‘Tune the toney,’ beat the fool.
1860		Melbourne Punch 2 Aug. 181/1: To this portion of the animal creation he is uniformly kind and considerate [...] only subjecting them to a flagellation where there is any discord in the teams, which naturally necessitates what he calls—a ‘ toonin’.
1878		New Ulm Wkly Rev. 19 June 6/3: Don’t you let daddy hear such talk as that; he’ll tune ye, ef he does, and no mistake.
1879		London Life 14 June 7/2: [S]he ‘tunes’ up her ponies, and dashes off to meet some more poor swells.
1935		J. Conroy World to Win 168: I’ll tune yo’ haid wit’ one o’ them foldin’ cheers same as a man would be a violin!
1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 159: I got doubts about tuning a guy with his kids where they can hear his screams.
2004		Simon & Lehane ‘Dead Soldiers’ Wire ser. 3 ep. 3 [TV script] We tune them up, we beat them down, we lock them up.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 64: There’s a good reason I shouldn’t have you tuned up?
2016		Barer et al. Betrayal in Blue 73: In those days cops didn’t think twice about ‘tuning up’ a piece-of-shit perp that well deserved it.
2017		S.M. Jones August Snow [ebook] ‘Man say follow you. Give tune-up is all. Easy money’ [...] ‘Who told you to out a beatdown on me?’.
2023		Rayman & Blau Riker’s 84: We tuned him up and we got him in line. Smacked him in the face. You hit them where it’s not going to leave too many bruises.

2. (US teen, also chune) to talk to, esp. flirtatiously, to tell.

1968		Current Sl. III:1 14: Tune, v. To communicate.
1977		C. Hope Ducktails in Gray Theatre Two (1981) 35: Don’t tune me skraal, ou pally. Y’know who I am? [Ibid.] 41: howellsie: Where’s Jimmie? bo-bo: Tuning that blond babe we saw in the Hut.
1983		Frontline (S. Afr.) Oct. 61: The skate has his own dialect [...] ‘I got a graft, a cabbie, I got stukkies, booze, and I got zol. I tune you, mate, if I can get one mamba chow a day, I scheme life is kif.’.
1989		B. Simon ‘Score Me the Ages’ Born in the RSA (1997) 136: My chommie chuned if I come out here in my uniform I’ll make lots of bucks. [Ibid.] 153: Ja man fuck I chuned him, I told him.
1990		P. Hotz Muzukuru 3: ‘There are 20 blokes in this camp,’ he chuned me.
1993		P. Slabolepszy ‘Mooi Street Moves’ Mooi Street (1994) 282: He doesn’t like you, that guy. He said so. He tunes me – where’s the cheeky kaffir today?
1995		A. Heckerling Clueless [film script] (Cher spots Travis tuning Tai and butts in to stop it).
2005		A. Lovejoy Acid Alex 60: I’m going to tune you something hectic and you might lag, [laugh] [...] you are going to turn into a regte ou-roeker.
2010		Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) 8 Jan. 🌐 I tuned you, bru, don’t look at my cherrie!

3. (S.Afr.) take notice, to look at.

1977

C. Hope Ducktails in Gray Theatre Two (1981) 40: (The girls whisper and giggle among themselves) bo-bo (nudging Jimmie): Tune the babes, man.

4. (S.Afr., also chune) to tease, to hoax, to deceive.

1990

P. Hotz Muzukuru 4: He must wear size 15 boots – I’m not chuning you. He must be as big as a goddam elephant.

In phrases

tune down (v.)

(US) to humiliate.

2020

(con. 1991-94) W. Boyle City of Margins 17: [H]e’ [...] practically shitting his pants, tuned down totally by a tough guy with a shield behind him.

tune one’s pipes (v.) [pun on SE pipe one’s eye]

1. to cry.

1728		Defoe Street Robberies Considered 10: I began to Whindle, and Tune my Pipes.
1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 392: His wife came last, and rubb’d her eye, / Then tun’d her pipe, and join’d the cry.
1797		Bridges Burlesque Homer (4th edn) II 190: [as cit. 1772].

2. (US und.) to blame a third party.

1895

S.F. Chron. 6 June 11/5: Before I can open my face he tunes up his pipes an’ hands me a knock. It makes me so hot.

tune out (v.) [radio imagery]

1. to lose concentration, deliberately or otherwise.

1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 115: He ought, of course, to have tuned out, even if it had meant sitting there saying nothing.
1978		J. Webb Fields of Fire (1980) 146: We [...] find a nice ditch, maybe a bomb crater, and tune out.
1989		T. Blacker Fixx 118: I confess that, with the word ‘autobiography’, I tuned out.

2. to dismiss a topic or person from one’s mind.

1963		A.S. Fleischman Venetian Blonde (2006) 147: She had them tuned out, but they kept broadcasting.
1976		N. Thornburg Cutter and Bone (2001) 248: Alex was roaming his fields of death and gore, and [...] Bone wanted to tune him out, to fix his mind on the geological phenomena out the car window.
1993		T. Jones Pugilist at Rest 180: The little girl began to tune out. Gramma wasn’t so much fun anymore.
1999		‘Master Pimp’ Pimp’s Rap 63: My pimp brain kicked in and tuned her out.
2010		A. Steinberg Running the Books 187: She had been tuning out the noise around her.

3. to break someone’s concentration.

1975

L. Rosten Dear ‘Herm’ 93: Just the mere mention of that freak’s name tunes me out now.

tune someone grief (v.)

(S.Afr.) to abuse someone verbally, to give someone trouble.

1976		‘Blossom’ in Darling 4 Feb. 87: She never tunes me grief like that before [DSAE].
1985		Style Oct. 36: ‘What’s your case tcherrie?’ ‘So how many chicks you got?’ ‘You tuning me grief!’ [DSAE].
1996		CyberBraai Lex. at www.matriots.com 🌐 TUNE GRIEF: To be tuned grief is to be aggravated, harassed. Be selective about using the term. For example, if your bank manager calls you in for an urgent chat about your overdraft, you should avoid saying: ‘Hey, listen. You’re tuning me grief, man.’ That would be unwise and could result in major tuning of grief. There are variations. You can say about your boss: ‘This oke is tuning me uphill.’.

tune up (v.) [fig. use of SE tune up, of musical instruments]

1. to get drunk.

1912		Ade Knocking the Neighbors 166: It was now after 10 o’clock and time to go Home. Those who had started to tune up along in the Afternoon were dying on the Vine.
1920		Ade Hand-made Fables 62: So the Legislature was petitioned to make an Exception in his Case and let him tune up every Afternoon.

2. (US campus) to become intoxicated by drugs.

1967–8

Baker et al. CUSS.

3. to beat, to thrash; thus as n. tune-up, a beating.

1907		D. Stewart Shadows of the Night in Illus. Police News 5 Oct. 12/1: Stopped yer singing, young ’un [...] Blarm me! I’ve got a key here to tune yer up with.’ [...] the wretch here flourished over his head the rope.
1979		F. Norman Too Many Crooks Spoil the Caper 156: Then two geezers are gettin’ on me tits [...] I reckon they need a bit of a tunin’ up.
1984		‘Derek Raymond’ He Died with His Eyes Open 107: Maybe he was sober that time [...] So you tuned him up the second time, is that it?
1993		Aus. Word Map 🌐 tune-up a belting.
1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 159: You can tune him up, break his legs, whatever.
2008		R. Price Lush Life 186: Boulware stumbled in, misbuttoned, his face waffled with abrasions [...] ‘Where’d you get that tune-up?’ .
2017		D. Winslow The Force [ebook] A couple of your people tuned up a bar owner on Lenox the othernight.

4. (US) to have sexual intercourse.

2020

S.A. Crosby Blacktop Wasteland 82: ‘Sounds like you need a good tuning up’ [...] ‘You know, your dick ain’t the answer to everything’.