Definition of "tune-up" [tune-up]

• An adjustment, as of a motor or engine, made to improve working order or efficiency. (noun)
• A preparation; a warm-up: The scrimmage was a tune-up for the big game. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Likewise, Hunter Mahan has a superb record at the AT&T, having finished no lower than T12 in his three starts Congressional went through an initial Jones tune-up in 1989."
• "The New Meadowlands Stadium's first professional event— three months before its first Giants-Jets preseason game—was the World Cup tune-up last May between Mexico and Ecuador, which drew 77,507."
• "The winner of this Gold Cup earns a berth in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil that serves as a tune-up event one year before the next World Cup."