flue

[floo]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR flue ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a passage or duct for smoke in a chimney.

any duct or passage for air, gas, or the like.

a tube, especially a large one, in a fire-tube boiler.

Music.

flue pipe.
Also called windway.a narrow slit in the upper end of an organ pipe through which the air current is directed.

Origin of flue

1555–65; earlier flew, perhaps representing Old English flēwsa a flowing, the form flews being taken as plural

Can be confusedflew flu flue

flue

[floo]

noun

downy matter; fluff.

Origin of flue

1580–90; perhaps to be identified with Old English flug- (in flugol swift, fleeting); akin to fly¹. Compare Low German flug

flue

or flew

[floo]

noun

a fishing net.

Origin of flue

1350–1400; Middle English flowe; compare Middle Dutch vluwe fishing net

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for flue

duct, chimney, vent, tube, channel, passage

Examples from the Web for flue

Historical Examples of flue

The chimney-pot to which he had to fix the flue was in the middle of the roof.
L'Assommoir
Emile Zola
Dirty finger-prints were on the hall-windows, flue and rubbish on its unwashed boards.
Howards End
E. M. Forster
Anyway I got doubled up somehow; and that's the reason I stuck in the flue.
Phil Bradley's Mountain Boys
Silas K. Boone
In these days, how common is it to provide rooms with only a flue for a stove!
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 85, November, 1864
Various
The cross-section area of the flue is likely to prove the most common difficulty.
Making a Fireplace
Henry H. Saylor

British Dictionary definitions for flue

flue

noun

a shaft, tube, or pipe, esp as used in a chimney, to carry off smoke, gas, etc

music the passage in an organ pipe or flute within which a vibrating air column is set upSee also flue pipe

Word Origin for flue

C16: of unknown origin

flue

noun

loose fluffy matter; down

Word Origin for flue

C16: from Flemish vluwe, from Old French velu shaggy

flue

flew

noun

a type of fishing net

Word Origin for flue

Middle English, from Middle Dutch vlūwe

flue

⁴

noun

another word for fluke 1 (def. 1), fluke 1

Derived Formsflued, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for flue

"smoke channel in a chimney," 1580s, perhaps related to 15c. word meaning "mouthpiece of a hunting horn," or perhaps from Old English flowan "to flow," and/or Old French fluie "stream."