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

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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

Irish pipes, bouzouki, violin and fiddle also feature in the performance alongside an oud - a stringed instrument often described as similar to the European lute - and Middle Eastern percussion.

From BBC ● Jan. 26, 2026

A Dutch guide to marine life from the late 1500s claims that some whale species “like to hear music played on the lute, harp, flute and similar instruments.”

From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2024

For “Bound,” Huang turned to Vietnamese instruments, using both the đàn bầu, a type of lute, and đàn tranh, a type of zither.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 7, 2023

I had some success with the strings of the lute, but my fingers fumbled on the keys of the virginal.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

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

The seams of the box are well luted with clay to prevent the gases from the consumed bone-dust from escaping, and to exclude air.

From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Joshua Rose

After filling to the top with compound, the lid D is luted on.

From The Working of Steel Annealing, Heat Treating and Hardening of Carbon and Alloy Steel by Fred H. (Fred Herbert) Colvin

For 'tis of a nature so subtile, That, if it's not luted with care, The spirit will work through the bottle, And vanish away into air.

From The works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 04 by Sir Walter Scott

The whole was enclosed in a good Hessian crucible, previously smeared with charcoal, with a luted cover, and exposed for twenty minutes to the high heat of a small chemical blast-furnace.

From Scenes and Andventures in the Semi-Alpine Region of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

"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

As he was about to pass luting through the entrance, Lysidice parted the curtains and entered the room.

From The Proud Prince by Justin H. (Justin Huntly) McCarthy

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

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

Wine-stained moments on the wing, Moonlit hours go luting by, She who leads the flight of Spring Leads the midnight revelry.

From A Lute of Jade : selections from the classical poets of China by L. (Launcelot) Cranmer-Byng

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