to the tune of

English[edit]

(literally) Fitting the melody of.
The lyrics were written to the tune of "Amazing Grace".
- 2022 December 9, Hannah J. Davies, “Is TikTok killing off the pop music bridge?”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:
  She wasn’t the only one pondering that question; it was a sentiment that would be echoed in a post by the TikTok musician Boy Jr in August, who – to the tune of Video Killed the Radio Star – told her 300,000 followers that the very platform she was posting from had, along with streaming services and algorithms, “killed the bridge in pop songs”.
(figurative) Roughly; about; to the approximate sum or extent of.
The damage that he did to his car was to the tune of two grand.
- 1928, Upton Sinclair, Boston:
  It's a blackmail ring, and the district attorneys get a share of the loot. […] Well, they got him in the same kind of jam, and soaked him to the tune of three hundred and eighty-six thousand.
- 2023 November 3, David Smith, “‘Hollywood doesn’t change overnight’: Indigenous viewers on Killers of the Flower Moon”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:
  It boasts Hollywood royalty such as Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, was backed to the tune of $200m by tech behemoth Apple and has earned the kind of reviews that generate Oscar buzz.