lute

1
[ loot ]
See synonyms for lute on Thesaurus.com
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),lut·ed, lut·ing.
  1. to play a lute.

verb (used with object),lut·ed, lut·ing.
  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.

Origin of lute

1
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

Other definitions for lute (2 of 3)

lute2
[ loot ]

noun
verb (used with object),lut·ed, lut·ing.
  1. to seal or cement with luting.

Origin of lute

2
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Old French lut and Medieval Latin lutum, “mud, dirt, clay; clay for modeling”

Other definitions for lute (3 of 3)

lute3
[ 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),lut·ed, lut·ing.
  1. to spread and smooth (concrete in a pavement) with a lute.

Origin of lute

3
An Americanism dating back to 1870–75; from Dutch loet

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use lute in a sentence

  • There has been too much playing of lutes, too much worldly anticipation and imagining among us.

  • The knights rode in their tourneys, and tinkled their lutes in praise of some maiden in far and pleasant France.

    God Wills It! | William Stearns Davis
  • "Such words are more melodious than the sound of many marble lutes," said Ten-teh, sinking back as though in repose.

    Kai Lung's Golden Hours | Ernest Bramah
  • Insane laughter re-echoed in his ears, and the music of lutes, irresistible in its languor-compelling potency.

    The Doomsman | Van Tassel Sutphen
  • Orpheus and Agne followed next to Herse and the steward, and after them came two slaves, carrying the lutes and pipes.

    Serapis, Complete | Georg Ebers

British Dictionary definitions for lute (1 of 2)

lute1

/ (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

Origin of lute

1
C14: from Old French lut, via Old Provençal from Arabic al `ūd, literally: the wood

British Dictionary definitions for lute (2 of 2)

lute2

/ (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

Origin of lute

2
C14: via Old French ultimately from Latin lutum clay

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012