a musical wind instrument consisting of a tube with a series of fingerholes or keys, in which the wind is directed against a sharp edge, either directly, as in the modern transverse flute, or through a flue, as in the recorder.
an organ stop with wide flue pipes, having a flutelike tone.
Architecture, Furniture. a channel, groove, or furrow, as on the shaft of a column.
any groove or furrow, as in a ruffle of cloth or on a piecrust.
one of the helical grooves of a twist drill.
a slender, footed wineglass of the 17th century, having a tall, conical bowl.
a similar stemmed glass, used especially for champagne.
verb (used without object),flut·ed,flut·ing.
to produce flutelike sounds.
to play on a flute.
(of a metal strip or sheet) to kink or break in bending.
verb (used with object),flut·ed,flut·ing.
to utter in flutelike tones.
to form longitudinal flutes or furrows in: to flute a piecrust.
Origin of flute
1350–1400; Middle English floute<Middle French flaüte, flahute, fleüte<Old Provençal flaüt (perhaps alteration of flaujol, flauja) <Vulgar Latin *flabeolum.See flageolet, lute1
Again, in Hazlitt's Proverbs, we find 'To go blow one's flute,' which is taken from an old proverb.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 5 (of 7) -- Notes to the Canterbury Tales|Geoffrey Chaucer
We have now three instruments; Boehm flageolet, flute, and Bb clarinet; and we expect in a few days our piano.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 25 (of 25)|Robert Louis Stevenson
An instant later Merry sprang down the steps, rushed forward and seized the flute player.
Frank Merriwell's Son|Burt L. Standish
When sound of flute and trumpet / arose at break of day, A signal for their parting, / full soon they took their way.
The Nibelungenlied|Unknown
Sometimes at twilight, or beneath the soft evening air of summer, we mingled in the dance, to the music of our flute and viol.
Olive Leaves|Lydia Howard Sigourney
British Dictionary definitions for flute
flute
/ (fluːt) /
noun
a wind instrument consisting of an open cylindrical tube of wood or metal having holes in the side stopped either by the fingers or by pads controlled by keys. The breath is directed across a mouth hole cut in the side, causing the air in the tube to vibrate. Range: about three octaves upwards from middle C
any pipe blown directly on the principle of a flue pipe, either by means of a mouth hole or through a fipple
architecta rounded shallow concave groove on the shaft of a column, pilaster, etc
a groove or furrow in cloth, etc
a tall narrow wineglass
anything shaped like a flute
verb
to produce or utter (sounds) in the manner or tone of a flute
(tr)to make grooves or furrows in
Derived forms of flute
flutelike, adjectivefluty, adjective
Word Origin for flute
C14: from Old French flahute, via Old Provençal, from Vulgar Latin flabeolum (unattested); perhaps also influenced by Old Provençal laut lute; see flageolet