[UN-2 4.]
1. trans. To put out of tune; to render inharmonious. Freq. in fig. context.
1598. Florio, Distonare, to vntune.
1602. 2nd Pt. Return Parnass., V. i. 1996. The cold of wo hath quite vntun’d my voyce.
1643. Herle, Answ. Ferne, 15. There would be a discontinuity in the whole, enough to … untune the Organ of the Creation.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 135, ¶ 9. We have drawn two Words into one, which has likewise very much untuned our Language.
1743. in Mem. Eliz. Carter (1808), II. 55. When … The last dread thunders … Untune the concord of the spheres.
1807. J. Barlow, Columb., VIII. 45. The drum’s rude clang, the war wolf’s hideous howl … Untuned the harp for all but misery’s pains.
1856. C. Reade, Never too late, III. 106. The quail[’s] … Crake!—crake!—crake! untuning the night.
1876. Swinburne, Erechtheus, 1741. Never tear Shall stain for shame nor groan untune the song.
refl. a. 1661. Holyday, Juvenal (1673), To Rdr. Certainly I believe he [sc. Horace] injuriously untun’d himself in his fall from the ode to the satyre.
b. fig. To disorder; to discompose; to render unapt or averse to (something).
1638. N. Whiting, Albino & Bellama, 343. Madam, what passion does untune your mind?
a. 1657. R. Loveday, Lett. (1659), 199. The continuance of my trouble … does often untune and discompose my soul.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Past., IX. 71. Cares and Time Change all things, and untune my Soul to Rhyme.
1753. Hogarth, Anal. Beauty, xiv. 119. Do we not see in most collections that much time disunites, untunes, blackens, and by degrees destroys even the best preserved pictures.
1798. Bloomfield, Farmer’s Boy, Autumn, 228. Disappointed hope untunes the Soul.
1822. Scott, Halidon Hill, II. ii. Gordon. If music touch thee— Swinton. It did, before disasters had untuned me.
1860. Emerson, Cond. Life, vii. 232. Despair is no muse, and untunes the active powers.
2. intr. To go out of tune. rare–0.
1598. Florio, Discordare, to disagree, to vntune, to contend, to iarre.
† 3. absol. ? To relax, unbend. Obs.
1609. Everie Wom. in her Humor, A 2 b. Come thou hast bene a sinner: vnloade, discharge, vntune, confesse, is venus dominatrix? art not in loue?
