Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary полностью

5 N‑UNCOUNT The tone of someone's body, especially their muscles, is its degree of firmness and strength. □  …stretch exercises that aim to improve muscle tone.

6 VERB Something that tones your body makes it firm and strong. □ [V n] This movement lengthens your spine and tones the spinal nerves. □ [V -ing] Try these toning exercises before you start the day. □ [V -ed] …finely toned muscular bodies. ● PHRASAL VERB Tone up means the same as tone . □ [V P n] Exercise tones up your body. □ [V -ed P ] Although it's not strenuous exercise, you feel toned-up, supple and relaxed. [Also V n P ]

7 N‑VAR A tone is one of the lighter, darker, or brighter shades of the same colour. □  Each brick also varies slightly in tone, texture and size.

8 N‑SING A tone is one of the sounds that you hear when you are using a phone, for example the sound that tells you that a number is engaged or busy, or no longer exists.

9 → see also dialling tone , ring tone

10 PHRASE If you say that something lowers the tone of a place or event, you mean that it is not appropriate and makes the place or event seem less respectable. □  Councillors say plastic-framed windows lower the tone of the neighbourhood.

▸  tone down

1 PHRASAL VERB If you tone down something that you have written or said, you make it less forceful, severe, or offensive. □ [V P n] The fiery right-wing leader toned down his militant statements after the meeting. □ [V n P ] We have had to ask the agency and their client to tone their ads down.

2 PHRASAL VERB If you tone down a colour or a flavour, you make it less bright or strong. □ [V P n] When Ken Hom wrote his first book for the BBC he was asked to tone down the spices and garlic in his recipes. [Also V n P ]

▸  tone up → see tone 6

-toned /-toʊ nd/ COMB -toned combines with adjectives to indicate that something has a particular kind of tone. □  …soft, pastel-toned drawings.

to ne-dea f ADJ If you say that someone is tone-deaf , you mean that they cannot sing in tune or recognize different tunes.

tone|less /toʊ nləs/ ADJ A toneless voice is dull and does not express any feeling. [WRITTEN ] ●  tone|less|ly ADV [ADV after v] □  'That's most kind of him,' Eleanor said tonelessly.

ton|er /toʊ nə ^r / (toners ) N‑VAR A toner is a substance which you can put on your skin, for example to clean it or make it less oily.

tongs /tɒ ŋz, [AM ] tɔː ŋz/

1 N‑PLURAL [oft a pair of N ] Tongs are a tool that you use to grip and pick up objects that you do not want to touch. They consist of two long narrow pieces of metal joined together at one end.

2hammer and tongs → see hammer

tongue /tʌ ŋ/ (tongues )

1 N‑COUNT [usu poss N ] Your tongue is the soft movable part inside your mouth which you use for tasting, eating, and speaking. □  I walked over to the mirror and stuck my tongue out. □  She ran her tongue around her lips.

2 N‑COUNT You can use tongue to refer to the kind of things that a person says. □  She had a nasty tongue, but I liked her.

3 N‑COUNT A tongue is a language. [LITERARY ] □  The French feel passionately about their native tongue.

4 → see also mother tongue

5 N‑VAR Tongue is the cooked tongue of an ox or sheep. It is usually eaten cold.

6 N‑COUNT The tongue of a shoe or boot is the piece of leather which is underneath the laces.

7 N‑COUNT A tongue of something such as fire or land is a long thin piece of it. [LITERARY ] □ [+ of ] A yellow tongue of flame shot upwards.

8 PHRASE A tongue-in-cheek remark or attitude is not serious, although it may seem to be. □  …a lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek approach.