flute

UK: /ˈfluːt/ US: /flut/ ,(flo̅o̅t)

Inflections of 'flute' (v): (⇒ conjugate)

flutes

v 3rd person singular

fluting

v pres p

fluted

v past

fluted

v past p

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

flute /flut/   n. [countable]

1. Music and Dance a wind instrument with a high range, made of a tube with fingerholes or keys.
2. a groove.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

flute  (flo̅o̅t), n., v., flut•ed, flut•ing. 
n. 

1. Music and Dance 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.
2. Music and Dance an organ stop with wide flue pipes, having a flutelike tone.
3. Architecture, Architecture, Furniture a channel, groove, or furrow, as on the shaft of a column. See diag. under column. 
4. any groove or furrow, as in a ruffle of cloth or on a piecrust.
5. one of the helical grooves of a twist drill.
6. Ceramics a slender, footed wineglass of the 17th century, having a tall, conical bowl.
7. Ceramics a similar stemmed glass, used esp. for champagne.

v.i. 

8. to produce flutelike sounds.
9. Music and Dance to play on a flute.
10. (of a metal strip or sheet) to kink or break in bending.

v.t. 

11. to utter in flutelike tones.
12. to form longitudinal flutes or furrows in:
    to flute a piecrust.

• Vulgar Latin *flabeolum. See flageolet, lute
• Old Provencal flaüt (perh. alteration of flaujol, flauja)
• Middle French flaüte, flahute, fleüte
• Middle English floute 1350–1400

flute′like′, adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

flute / fluːt/ noun

1. 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
2. a rounded shallow concave groove on the shaft of a column, pilaster, etc
3. a tall narrow wineglass

verb

1. to produce or utter (sounds) in the manner or tone of a flute
2. (transitive) to make grooves or furrows in

Etymology: 14th Century: from Old French flahute, via Old Provençal, from Vulgar Latin flabeolum (unattested); perhaps also influenced by Old Provençal laut lute; see flageolet

ˈfluteˌlike adjective

ˈfluty, ˈflutey adjective