Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the shadowy depths below a wood-thrush was fluting his last notes for that day.
From In Happy Valley by John Fox
A blackbird was fluting after a shower, for the sky was transient blue with the dark rags of the squall flying fast over the hill towards London.
From Old Junk by S. K. (Samuel Kerkham) Ratcliffe
It grew and swelled until at last it seemed as if through a myriad pipes that Pan the earth spirit was fluting his magical creative song.
From AE in the Irish Theosophist by George William Russell
His Grace, in a post-prandial speech, observed that the Salvation Army came "fluting" among us, but he thought that the Army's success would be as "fleeting" as it was "fluting."
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 103, July 16, 1892 by Various
It grew and swelled until at last it seemed as if through a myriad pipes Pan the earth spirit was fluting his magical creative song.
From Imaginations and Reveries by George William Russell
