Definitions of tone:

• noun:   (linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that serves to distinguish words in tonal languages

  Example: "The Beijing dialect uses four tones"

• noun:   the quality of something (an act or a piece of writing) that reveals the attitudes and presuppositions of the author

  Example: "The general tone of articles appearing in the newspapers is that the government should withdraw"

• noun:   a steady sound without overtones

  Example: "They tested his hearing with pure tones of different frequencies"

• noun:   a musical interval of two semitones
• noun:   the quality of a person's voice

  Example: "He began in a conversational tone"

• noun:   the general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people

  Example: "A clergyman improved the tone of the meeting"

• noun:   a notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical sound
• noun:   the elastic tension of living muscles, arteries, etc. that facilitate response to stimuli
• noun:   a quality of a given color that differs slightly from a primary color
• noun:   (music) the distinctive property of a complex sound (a voice or noise or musical sound)

  Example: "The muffled tones of the broken bell summoned them to meet"

• verb:   change to a color image

  Example: "Tone a photographic image"

• verb:   change the color or tone of

  Example: "Tone a negative"

• verb:   of one's speech, varying the pitch
• verb:   utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically
• verb:   give a healthy elasticity to

  Example: "Let's tone our muscles"

• name:  A surname (rare: 1 in 100000 families; popularity rank in the U.S.: #17109)