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Brit. /
m
dj
le
t/, /md
let/, U.S. /m
d
let/ Forms: 15- modulate; also Sc. pre-17 modulat (past participle). [< classical Latin modul
t-, past participial stem (compare -ATE suffix3) of modulr
to regulate (sounds) in accordance with the rules of melody, pitch, etc., to set to music, to make music, to measure < modulus MODULUS n. Compare Middle French, French moduler (1458 in sense ‘to render by various inflections of the voice’, 1703 in sense ‘to change one's tone’, 1902 in sense 5; rare before 18th cent.), Italian modulare (a1492 in sense ‘to sing’, a1590 in sense ‘to change tone’), Old Occitan modular (a1500; Occitan modular), Portuguese modular (1572), Spanish modular (mid 15th cent.). Compare earlier MODULATOR n. and slightly earlier MODULATE adj.]
1. a. trans. To sing, intone (a song, etc.) correctly, according to certain rules of melody; to give (a note) its proper measure or duration. Also: to play (a note) correctly on an instrument. Obs.
?1567 M. PARKER Whole Psalter xcii. 260 To thy good name: O God so hye: due laudes to modulate.
c1580 Art of Music f. 4
v, in
Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at
Modulat, Quhow mekill the propir noit thair in the cantione is wontit to be modulat.
1623 H. COCKERAM Eng. Dict.,
Modulate, to sing by measure.
1636 C. BUTLER Princ. Musik I. i. 1 Musik is the Art of modulating Notes in voice or instrument.
b. intr. To play on an instrument; to make melody. Obs. rare.
1698 J. FRYER New Acct. E.-India & Persia 174 Who hearing one sweetly modulating on an Ismean Pipe, swore he would rather hear the neighing of an Horse.
2. a. trans. To vary the tone, pitch, or strength of (one's voice, a note, etc.); to vary or inflect in tone; to give tune or melody to, to adapt to a new tune. Also in fig. context. Also with to, unto.
In quot. 1746: to set the pitch of, to tune.
c1580 Art of Music f. 30
v, in
Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at
Modulat, In the quhilk nocht alanely the figuris bot also the ordinaris of singis is to be obserwit eftir the quhilk the noittis now hiear now lawer aw to be modulat.
1615 H. CROOKE 
911 The second vse [of the tongue] is to breake the ayer that is driuen out of the Lungs and to Modulate the voyce.
1701 N. GREW Cosmol. Sacra I. v. §21 The Nose, Lips, Teeth, Palate, Jaw, Tongue,..All serving to make, or to modulate the Sound.
1725 W. BROOME in Pope et al. tr. Homer
Odyssey I
IV. Observ. 261 Is it credible that any person could modulate her voice so artfully as to resemble so many voices?
1746 H. WALPOLE Let. to H. Mann 28 Mar., Gluck..is to play on a set of drinking-glasses, which he modulates with water.
1762 L. STERNE Life Tristram Shandy V. iii. 24 He listened to the voice of nature, and modulated his own unto it.
1788 GIBBON Decline & Fall V. lii. 443 The songs of triumph were modulated to psalms and litanies.
1814 H. F. CARY tr. Dante
Paradiso xx. 23 As sound Of cittern, at the fret-board, or of pipe, Is, at the wind-hole, modulate and tun'd.
1830 T. DE QUINCEY Life R. Bentley in
Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Oct. 673/1 Bentley's English style was less meritorious... He took no pains with it... He would not stop to modulate a tuneless sentence.
1872 C. H. SPURGEON Treasury of David III. Ps. lxvi. 2 The noise is to be modulated with tune and time.
1889 Harper's Mag. Oct. 680 We are conscious of a murmuring humble voice: it is a beggar, who is modulating a prayer for alms.
1902 J. CONRAD Heart of Darkness ii, in
Youth 115 A complaining clamour, modulated in savage discords, filled our ears.
1932 G. GREENE Stamboul Train II. i. 87 The doubt made her less certain of herself and she spoke gently, more gently than she had intended, for it was difficult to modulate her husky voice.
1990 A. J. T
IERNEY et al.
Elements Nursing (BNC) 106 Some people have low, monotonous voices and others can modulate the voice for effective and varied expression.
b. intr. poet. To become attuned with. Obs.
1816 SHELLEY Alastor 4, I wait thy breath, Great Parent, that my strain May modulate with murmurs of the air,..And voice of living beings.
3. a. intr. Music. To pass from one key or mode to or into another; to change key Of a key: to change in this way. Also in fig. context.
to modulate upon: to introduce (a note) as a transition to another key (obs.).
1721 A. MALCOLM Treat. Musick xiii. 441 To modulate into and make Cadences upon several other Keys.
1721 A. MALCOLM Treat. Musick xiii. 446 It now remains to shew, how to modulate from one Key to another, so that the Transitions may be easy and natural.
1797 Encycl. Brit. XII. 192/1 To modulate properly in the same tone, it is necessary, 1. To run through all the sounds of it in an agreeable air [etc.].
1797 Encycl. Brit. XII. 193/1 Issuing from the major mode of
ut, to modulate upon its mediant.
1856 Southern Lit. Messenger Dec. 447/1 He [
sc. Burns] wrote
Amang the Rigs of Barley with quite as much gusto, and modulated into that key a great deal oftener than into any other.
1889 E. PROUT Harmony (ed. 3) x. 104 A minor key most often modulates to one of the related major keys.
1890 A. B. B
ACH Art Ballad 128 Loewe here modulates..from G minor into E flat minor.
1947 Penguin Music Mag. Dec. 29 After the climax Mendelssohn duly modulates to his ‘recapitulation-section’.
1991 Classic CD Dec. 22/1 The music modulates to the completely remote key of F sharp minor for the start of the development.
b. trans. Music. To pass to (a particular note) in the course of performing a melody. Obs. rare.
1797 Encycl. Brit. XII. 512/1 After having sung the tone ut, we naturally modulate the third mi, and the fifth sol, instead of the double octave of mi, and the octave of sol.
c. intr. gen. To change from one form or condition into another; to undergo shifting or transition in style, mood, or subject.
1878 T. HARDY Return of Native I.
II. v. 297 ‘Upon my song 'tis another ten minutes for us,’ said the Valiant Soldier, looking through the keyhole as the tune modulated into another without stopping.
1885 S. COX Expos. xi. 131 In the middle of verse 5, the invocation of a divine advent modulates into a sorrowful and pathetic confession of sin.
1960 Partisan Rev. Fall 609 In literary criticism..artless enthusiasm..has modulated into..more restrained yea-saying.
1984 P. R
OSE Parallel Lives (1985) 15 Love can modulate into affection without driving two people apart.
1996 Observer 29 Dec. 27/2 At its finest..Coleridge's borrowings modulate into something ‘rich and strange’ very much his own.
4. trans.
a. gen. To set or regulate in a certain measure and proportion; to adjust, temper, vary conformably to; to soften, temper, tone down.
Often coloured by suggestion of one of the more technical senses according to context.
1783 E. BURKE Speech Fox's E. India Bill in
Wks IV. 43, I shall certainly endeavour to modulate myself to this temper.
1797 A. RADCLIFFE Italian I. ii. 77 She determined to modulate that nature to her own views.
1832 TENNYSON Eleänore in
Poems (new ed.) 28 Motions flow To one another, even as tho' They were modulated so To an unheard melody.
1858 H. BUSHNELL Serm. for New Life (1869) xii. 168 He learns how to modulate and operate his will.
1890 G. G
ISSING Emancipated I. ii 40 Cecily could not sing, but her voice declared her of those who think in song, whose minds are modulated to the poetry, not to the prose, of life.
1904 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Mar. 345/2 His glance..travelled from the walls lined with well-bound books to the lamps modulated to the proper light.
1991 L. M
ILLER Lett. from Lost Generation p. xxix, MacLeish's letters..are..artfully modulated with an undertone of restraint which gives them emotional resonance.
b. To exert a modifying or controlling influence on; to regulate. (Chiefly in technical contexts.)
1847 R. W. EMERSON Poems 147 The rhyme of the poet Modulates the king's affairs, Balance-loving nature Made all things in pairs.
1937 Amer. Home Apr. 152/1 (
advt.) Hoffman Controlled Heat accurately modulates the heat supply to every variation in the weather.
1974 Sci. Amer. Nov. 39/1 The steam flow is modulated by a control valve actuated by a speed governor on the rotor.
1993 Sci. & Public Affairs. Winter 33/1 Our own efforts, like those of other major plant breeders, have focused on modulating the ripening process.
5. trans. Chiefly Physics and Engin.
a. To vary the amplitude, frequency, or other characteristic of (an electromagnetic wave or other oscillating signal, or a beam of particles) in accordance with the variations of a second signal, typically one of lower frequency. Also: to vary (the amplitude, etc., of a wave) in this way.
1908 Trans. Amer. Inst. Electr. Engin. 27 575 For wireless telephony three things are necessary:..2. Means for modulating this stream of waves in accordance with sound waves. 1941 Electronic Engin. 14 485/1 The direct transmission and reception of speech or music over long distances..is impractical and propagation of audio frequencies is usually accomplished by using them to modulate an R.F. wave acting as carrier. 1959 Chambers's Encycl. II. 591/2 In broadcasting on long, medium and short waves it is normally the amplitude which is modulated. 1965 Science 8 Oct. 153/3 The simplest way to modulate a beam of light..is to turn the generator of light on and off. 1972 Sci. Amer. Sept. 132/2 The received signal is decoded into its components and used to modulate three independent electron beams. 1984 M. DITTRICK & D. DITTRICK No Uncertain Terms 75 The synchrocyclotron..solves this problem by modulating the frequency of the accelerating voltage, decreasing it to keep in step with the particle as it grows increasingly ponderous. 1990 Music Technol. Apr. 80/2 If the polarising signal is then modulated by an analogue signal in the audio range it will actually work as a loudspeaker.
b. To apply a signal to (a device) that modulates its output signal.
1920 P. E. EDELMAN Exper. Wireless Stations (rev. ed.) xv. 238 Starting with a telephone transmitter, this may be used to grid modulate one vacuum tube which in turn is cascaded to several others. 1953 W. A EDSON Vacuum-tube Oscillators xvi. 391 Magnetrons are ordinarily modulated by applying a large negative pulse to the cathode. 1989 Music Technol. Oct. 32/1 It has a force sensor so when you press hard on the key you can modulate the oscillators and route the modulation through the filters.
c. To impress (a signal) on to a carrier wave by modulation.
1930 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 16 503 By the use of amplifiers, the light signal could be modulated directly on the carrier wave.
1962 A. NISBETT Technique Sound Studio 267 A system for distributing audio information by modulating it on to a high frequency carrier..which is then amplified..and broadcast.
1970 J. EARL Tuners & Amplifiers v. 118 This [signal] cannot be added direct to the L + R information fed to the transmitter. First it has to be modulated on to a subcarrier of 38kHz.
1985 Music 2 Feb. 33/1 This is recorded first... The video information is then modulated on top.
6. intr. Biol. Of a cell: to undergo modulation into a different form (see MODULATION n. 8).
1956 C. H. WADDINGTON Princ. Embryol. xvi. 361 When differentiated vertebrate cells are grown in tissue culture.., they ‘modulate’ into less-specialised forms which may appear to be dedifferentiated.
1964 N. T. S
PRATT Introd. Cell Differentiation vi. 68 Although cells of cultured tissues may undergo temporary dedifferentiation (that is, may modulate), permanent loss of basic properties which distinguish the cells as to type seems to be rare.
1994 Tissue & Cell 26 747/1 Fibroblasts during the proliferative stage of the disease appear to modulate into specialized cells termed ‘myofibroblasts’.
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