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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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

---

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

---

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

And Azerbaijan's Mamagama go all Maroon 5 on Run With U, a smooth pop song elevated by a twinkling riff on the saz – a long-necked plucked instrument similar to the lute.

From BBC ● May 9, 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

I let it build, taking my time as I unclasped my battered secondhand lute case and removed my battered secondhand lute.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

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

I melted the remaining Part, and having incorporated it with quick Lime, I put it into a little Glass Retort luted, and put Fire to it by degrees.

From The Natural History of Chocolate Being a Distinct and Particular Account of the Cocoa-Tree, its Growth and Culture, and the Preparation, Excellent Properties, and Medicinal Vertues of its Fruit by Brookes, R. (Richard), fl. 1721-1763

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

The covers are then luted on and the pots placed in the furnace.

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

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 Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe

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

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

As they were talking, in came one of the Khalif's maidservants and whispered him that they had heard a noise of singing and luting in Mehboubeh's chamber and knew not what this meant.

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Volume IV by Payne, John

It is smooth reading, and is attributed to Bertrand de Born,3 who lived in the time when even the lion-hearted King Richard turned his brawny fingers to the luting of a song.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 70, August, 1863 by Various

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 Meredith, George

Before beginning any experiment, the closeness of the luting ought always to be previously tried, either by slightly heating the retort A, Pl.

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

Related Words

• adhesive
• mud
• plaster
• sand