flute

American  

[floot] / flut /

noun

1. a musical wind instrument consisting of a tube with a series of fingerholes or keys, in which the wind is directed against a sharp edge, either directly, as in the modern transverse flute, or through a flue, as in the recorder.

2. an organ stop with wide flue pipes, having a flutelike tone.

3. Architecture, Furniture. a channel, groove, or furrow, as on the shaft of a column.

4. any groove or furrow, as in a ruffle of cloth or on a piecrust.

5. one of the helical grooves of a twist drill.

6. a slender, footed wineglass of the 17th century, having a tall, conical bowl.

7. a similar stemmed glass, used especially for champagne.

---

verb (used without object)

fluted, fluting

1. to produce flutelike sounds.

2. to play on a flute.

3. (of a metal strip or sheet) to kink or break in bending.

verb (used with object)

fluted, fluting

1. to utter in flutelike tones.

2. to form longitudinal flutes or furrows in.

   to flute a piecrust.

flute British  

/ fluːt /

noun

1. a wind instrument consisting of an open cylindrical tube of wood or metal having holes in the side stopped either by the fingers or by pads controlled by keys. The breath is directed across a mouth hole cut in the side, causing the air in the tube to vibrate. Range: about three octaves upwards from middle C

2. any pipe blown directly on the principle of a flue pipe, either by means of a mouth hole or through a fipple

3. architect a rounded shallow concave groove on the shaft of a column, pilaster, etc

4. a groove or furrow in cloth, etc

5. a tall narrow wineglass

6. anything shaped like a flute

---

verb

1. to produce or utter (sounds) in the manner or tone of a flute

2. (tr) to make grooves or furrows in

flute Cultural  

1. A high-pitched woodwind, held horizontally by the player and played by blowing across a hole.

---

Other Word Forms

• flutelike adjective
• fluty adjective

Etymology

Origin of flute

1350–1400; Middle English floute < Middle French flaüte, flahute, fleüte < Old Provençal flaüt (perhaps alteration of flaujol, flauja ) < Vulgar Latin *flabeolum. See flageolet, lute ¹

Example Sentences

Kirk and Ms. Getz trade phrases, but then when Kirk starts improvising a solo, it’s on yet a fourth instrument, a flute.

From The Wall Street Journal

As passengers sipped flutes of Champagne for hours on the triple-decker yacht, they played games of “Guess Who?” customized with the faces of AI legends.

From The Wall Street Journal

Lord Krishna, Hinduism’s compassionate god of divine love, is often portrayed with a flute in hand.

From Los Angeles Times

Her flutes — from piccolo to bass and all in between — and friends became magic makers in this numinous physical and musical landscape.

From Los Angeles Times

And there were, of course, the signature grandfather clocks that made Howard Miller famous, both traditional designs of fluted hardwood and contemporary deconstructions with visible gears.

From Salon

Related Words

• blare
• hiss