tuning fork

noun

1. a steel instrument consisting of a stem with two prongs, producing a musical tone of definite, constant pitch when struck, and serving as a standard for tuning musical instruments, making acoustical experiments, and the like.

tuning fork

noun

1. a two-pronged metal fork that when struck produces a pure note of constant specified pitch. It is used to tune musical instruments and in acoustics

Word History and Origins

Origin of tuning fork¹

First recorded in 1765–75

Example Sentences

The first is plush velvet, the second taut and clear as a high C struck on a tuning fork.

From Washington Post

After the tapping, the team measured the spiders’ responses to a vibrating tuning fork placed on the web, mimicking a struggling insect.

From Science News

The incommunicable thrill of things, that is the tuning-fork by which we test the flatness of our art.

From The Daily Beast

“Jane quivers like a tuning fork,” Kenneth Tynan wrote in The New Yorker.

From The Daily Beast

He beat with two fingers that danced like the prongs of a tuning fork on the paper spread out in front of him.

From Project Gutenberg

It consists of a tuning-fork, kept in vibration by two small electro-magnets, excited with three or four battery cells.

From Project Gutenberg

This is well illustrated by a simple experiment with a tuning fork and a spherical resonator reinforcing the tone of the fork.

From Project Gutenberg

A tuning fork, receiving the sound vibrations from one of a similar size and shape begins to vibrate in turn.

From Project Gutenberg

The latter has been found to be produced by an even and regular vibration such as that of a tuning fork or of a piano string.

From Project Gutenberg