All 5 Uses of

tone
in
The Outsiders

"That's the greaser that jockeys for the Slash J sometime," she said, as if we couldn't hear her. I had heard the same tone a million times: "Greaser… greaser… greaser."
p. 21.8 *

tone = quality of voice expressing an attitude

Oh yeah, I had heard that tone before too many times.
p. 21.9

tone = attitude expressed in the sound of the voice

"Johnny," Dally said in a pleading, high voice, using a tone I had never heard from him before, "Johnny, I ain't mad at you."
p. 89.9

tone = pitch (sound of voice) that expressed an attitude

Something in his tone of voice made me look at him.
p. 157.9

tone = general attitude

Definitions:

(1) (tone as in: the tone of the essay)
the general feeling, mood, or attitude of something -- especially of something said or written
(2) (meaning too common or rare to warrant focus)
meaning too common or too rare to warrant focus:

See a comprehensive dictionary for the many other common and less common meanings of tone including:
- a quality of sound, music, or voice
- a quality of color
- a quality of muscles seen after exercise, or the act of exercising to create that quality
- signals from a telephone
The expression "tone down", means to make something less forceful.