lute

¹ American  

[loot] / lut /

noun

1. 

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

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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 American  

[loot] / lut /

noun

1. luting.

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verb (used with object)

luted, luting

1. to seal or cement with luting.

lute ³ American  

[loot] / lut /

noun

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

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verb (used with object)

luted, luting

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

lute ¹ British  

/ 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

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verb

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

lute ² British  

/ 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

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Etymology

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

Explanation

A lute is an old-fashioned stringed instrument that looks like a small, pear-shaped guitar. The lute appears in many of Shakespeare's plays. You might also see a lute player at a Renaissance Faire. The wooden body of a lute is very round, while the front is flat with strings extending up the long neck to frets, like a ukulele or a guitar. Lute players are called luthiers, and they play mainly by plucking the strings, rather than strumming them. The word lute comes from the Old Provençal laut, from the Arabic root al-'ud, "the wood."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lute luted luting

Ms. Salvant’s 2023 release, “Mélusine,” included songs that dated back to the 12th century, sung in four languages, and made prominent use of the theorbo, the plucked lute used for Baroque basso continuo accompaniment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026

Franglen's creations included a long-necked lute, similar to a Turkish saz, with strings that represent the rigging of the Wind Traders' ship.

From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2025

Jein even had the Vulcan lute played by Leonard Nimoy’s “Mr. Spock.”

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 7, 2023

This object is about 18 lightyears away, located in Lyra, the minor constellation often depicted as a vulture carrying a lute.

From Salon ● May 17, 2023

He ducks under his table, picks up a gittern—or maybe it's a lute, I can never tell the difference—and plucks a few notes.

From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz

I wouldn't trade the cramped, pol luted, noisy and ungovernable city for any purified and antiseptic community in the U.S.

From Time Magazine Archive

This had to be thickened by boiling, and the joinings were luted with it, thus rendering the canoe perfectly water-tight.

From Snow Shoes and Canoes The Early Days of a Fur-Trader in the Hudson Bay Territory by Norman Little

If the apparatus be accurately luted, this alteration of level will be permanent; whereas, if there be the smallest, opening in any of the junctures, the liquid will very soon recover its former level.

From Elements of Chemistry, In a New Systematic Order, Containing all the Modern Discoveries by Antoine Lavoisier

It is of the form my master mostly uses—round, with a small neck and a narrow mouth, to be luted closely, without doubt.

From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 2, July, 1850. by Various

When the floor of the kiln has been covered with slabs of glass the opening is carefully built up and luted with fire-bricks and fire-clay, and the whole is then allowed to cool.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 1 "Gichtel, Johann" to "Glory" by Various

Argoil: potter's clay, used for luting or closing vessels in the laboratories of the alchemists; Latin, "argilla;" French, "argile."

From The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems by D. Laing Purves

Dr Buckland says, "It is probable there was some aperture in the luting by which small insects found admission."

From The Romance of Natural History, Second Series by Philip Henry Gosse

Read of a death among the five thousand:— A gang has been ordered to cut clay for the luting of the coke furnaces.

From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Rudyard Kipling

"Well, now," she said, "when all Florence is luting and fluting for the queen of beauty, the king of beasts walks warden by her side."

From The God of Love by Justin H. (Justin Huntly) McCarthy

This lady of the luting tongue, The flash in darkness, billow's grace, For thee the worship; for the young In muscle the embrace.

From Poems — Volume 2 by George Meredith

Related Words

• adhesive
• mud
• plaster
• sand