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

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

Harpsichord and viola da gamba act as soloists as well as continuo; a modern lute song is a lullaby.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025

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

He studied literature and poetry, attended the theatre regularly and continued to play the lute to a high standard.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin

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

Figure 31 shows a later type of box in which the edges can be easily luted.

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

Sheet iron box luted at bottom with water.

From Paint Technology and Tests by Henry A. Gardner

The junctures were carefully luted, and the phial containing the tincture of myrrh was placed in water, heated almost to the boiling point, by the lamp of a tea-kettle.

From Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air by Joseph Priestley

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

In the meantime his glass breaks, yet he upon better luting lays wagers of the success, and promiseth wedges beforehand to his friend.

From Character Writings of the 17th Century by Various

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 John Payne

The arrangement was now completed by luting on a small copper pot or vessel about 5 inches deep, 8 inches wide at mouth, and about 10 inches at bottom, with its mouth downwards.

From On the Antiquity of the Chemical Art by James Mactear

"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

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

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