intonate en · VERB · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- /ˈɪntəʊneɪt/ (UK)
Etymology
First attested in 1795; borrowed from Medieval Latin intonātus, perfect passive participle of intonō (“to vocalize, chant”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from in- (inchoative prefix) + tonus (“pitch, tone”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix); doublet of intone. Cognate with French entonner, Italian intonare.
Meanings
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(dated, intransitive, transitive) To intone or recite (words), especially emphatically or in a chanting manner.
His manner on the platform and his speech were those of a drony, sing-song, intonating Episcopal minister, devoid of life and spirit.
1911, Charles Clinton Nourse, chapter 2, in Autobiography, Cedar Rapids, Iowa:With actorlike polish he intonated through the third page […]
1985, David H. Rothman, chapter 10, in The Silicon Jungle, New York: Ballantine, page 171:[…] we have no doubt whatever that the recitation of verse on the stage was of an artificial and semi-musical character. It was undoubtedly much more sustained and intonated with a slow and measured stateliness, which, whilst harmonizing it with the other circumstances of solemnity in Greek tragedy, would bring it nearer to music.
1840 February, Thomas De Quincey, “Theory of Greek Tragedy”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume 47, number 292, page 153:
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(dated, transitive) To say or speak with a certain intonation.
[…] an older man, attired in gray, with hair to match, was busily engaged at one end of the room packing a quantity of small cases into a larger one, and continuing to hold converse with himself by means of the monosyllable “yes,” differently intonated, at intervals of half-a-minute, “y-e-s—y-e-s.”
1882, chapter 6, in Road Scrapings: Coaches and Coaching, London: Tinsley Brothers, page 92:“Is this Mr. O’Connor’s chamber?” inquired a voice of peculiar richness, intonated not unpleasingly with a certain melodious modification of the brogue […]
1845 Jun, Sheridan Le Fanu, chapter 6, in The Cock and the Anchor, volume 1, Dublin: William Curry, page 74:[…] another child of foreign parentage intonates his English with the cadence peculiar to the language of his parents.
1920, Paul Klapper, chapter 8, in Teaching Children to Read, New York: Appleton, page 118:Miss Bremer talked plentifully in her strange manner—good English enough for a foreigner, but so oddly intonated and accented, that it is impossible to be sure of more than one word in ten.
1858 January 6 – 1862 August 15 (date written), Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Rome”, in Passages from the French and Italian Note-books of Nathaniel Hawthorne, volume I, London: Strahan & Co., […], published 1871, →OCLC, page 274:
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(dated, transitive) To intone or vocalize (musical notes); to sound the tones of the musical scale; to practise the sol-fa.
The composer so ordered it, that the king’s part should be one holding note, in a pitch proper for a Contratenor, for that was the king’s voice. Nor was he inattentive to other particulars, for he contrived his own part, which was the Bass, in such a manner, that every other note he sung was an octave to that of the king, which prevented his majesty from deviating from that single note which he was to intonate.
1776, John Hawkins, A General History of the Science and Practice of Music, Volume 2, Book 4, Chapter 3 p. 431:1844, The order for morning and evening prayer, and the Litany : with plain-tune, according to the use of the United Church of England and Ireland, London: J. Burns,Editor’s Preface, A comma or colon was intonated by the fall of a minor third from the key-note on the ultimate or penultimate and ultimate syllables of the clause […]
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| intonates | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| intonating | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| intonated | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| intonated | Tense=Past | lexicographic |