lute

¹

[loot]

noun

1. a stringed musical instrument having a long, fretted neck and a hollow, typically pear-shaped body with a vaulted back.

verb (used without object)

luted, luting 

1. to play a lute.

verb (used with object)

luted, luting 

1. to perform (music) on a lute.

   a musician skilled at luting Elizabethan ballads.

2. to express (a feeling, mood, etc.) by means of a lute.

   The minstrel eloquently luted his melancholy.

lute

²

[loot]

noun

1. luting.

verb (used with object)

luted, luting 

1. to seal or cement with luting.

lute

³

[loot]

noun

1. a paving tool for spreading and smoothing concrete, consisting of a straightedge mounted transversely on a long handle.

verb (used with object)

luted, luting 

1. to spread and smooth (concrete in a pavement) with a lute.

lute

¹

/ luːt /

noun

1. Also called: luting. a mixture of cement and clay used to seal the joints between pipes, etc

2. dentistry a thin layer of cement used to fix a crown or inlay in place on a tooth

verb

1. (tr) to seal (a joint or surface) with lute

lute

²

/ luːt /

noun

1. an ancient plucked stringed instrument, consisting of a long fingerboard with frets and gut strings, and a body shaped like a sliced pear

Word History and Origins

Origin of lute¹

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English lut(e), luet, luit, from Middle French, Old French leut, lut, from Old Provençal laut, from Arabic al ʿūd oud ( def. )

Origin of lute²

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Old French lut and Medieval Latin lutum, “mud, dirt, clay; clay for modeling”

Origin of lute³

An Americanism dating back to 1870–75; from Dutch loet

Word History and Origins

Origin of lute¹

C14: via Old French ultimately from Latin lutum clay

Origin of lute²

C14: from Old French lut, via Old Provençal from Arabic al `ūd, literally: the wood

Related Words

• adhesive 
• mud 
• plaster 
• sand