''flute'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''flute'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260202202216-00-⌔

flute - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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A side-blown flute (etymology 1, noun sense 1).

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A recorder, sometimes also called a flute (etymology 1, noun sense 2).

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Champagne in a classic flute (etymology 1, noun sense 3).

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Flutes (etymology 1, noun sense 5) on a revolver barrel.

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Baguettes or flutes (etymology 1, noun sense 6).

Noun

flute (plural flutes)

• (music) A woodwind instrument consisting of a tube with a row of holes that produce sound through vibrations caused by air blown across the edge of the holes, often tuned by plugging one or more holes with a finger; the Western concert flute, a transverse side-blown flute of European origin.
  • ✤ The breathing flute’s ſoft notes are heard around,/And the ſhril trumpets mix their ſilver ſound;/The vaulted roofs vvith echoing muſic ring,/Theſe touch the vocal ſtops, and thoſe the trembling ſtring.¹
  • ✤ The group played huge drums placed overhead, along with flutes and a kotolike zither.²
  • ✤ After another alternation of the two elements, there is a more playful episode, in which flute and bassoon take up the first element, with swooping glissando on the ondes Martenot.³
• (colloquial) A recorder, also a woodwind instrument.
• A glass with a long, narrow bowl and a long stem, used for drinking wine, especially champagne.
  • ✤ These are champagne glasses, says Peggy.
    No, I mean the tall ones, Jamie says.
    You’re thinking of flutes, says Peggy. These are coupes.⁴
• A lengthwise groove, such as one of the lengthwise grooves on a classical column, or a groove on a cutting tool (such as a drill bit, endmill, or reamer), which helps to form both a cutting edge and a channel through which chips can escape.
  • ✤ Coordinate term: (cutter feature) tooth
• (architecture, firearms) A semicylindrical vertical groove, as in a pillar, in plaited cloth, or in a rifle barrel to cut down the weight.
• A long French bread roll, baguette.⁵
• An organ stop with a flute-like sound.
• A shuttle in weaving tapestry etc.

Verb

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flute (third-person singular simple present flutes, present participle fluting, simple past and past participle fluted)

• (intransitive) To play on a flute.
• (intransitive) To make a flutelike sound.
  • ✤ The green turf was velvet underfoot. The blackbirds fluted in the hazels there.⁶
• (transitive) To utter with a flutelike sound.
  • ✤ “Oh, there’s my precious Poppet,” said Phyllis, as a distant barking reached the ears. “He’s asking for his dinner, the sweet little angel. All right, darling, Mother’s coming,” she fluted, and buzzed off on the errand of mercy.⁷
• (transitive) To form flutes or channels in (as in a column, a ruffle, etc.); to cut a semicylindrical vertical groove in (as in a pillar, etc.).

Noun

flute (plural flutes)

• A kind of flyboat; a storeship.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /flu(ː)t/
  • Audio (US): 🔊
• Rhymes: -uːt
• Hyphenation: flute

Etymology 1

From Middle English fleute, floute, flote, from Old French flaute, fleüte, from Old Provençal flaüt, of uncertain origin. Perhaps ultimately from three possibilities:

• Blend of Provencal flaujol (“flageolet”) + laüt (“lute”)
• From Latin flātus (“blowing”), from flāre (“to blow”)
• Imitative.

Doublet of flauta and fluyt.

Etymology 2

Compare French flûte (“a transport”)?, Dutch fluit.

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

1. 1709, Alexander Pope, “January and May; or, The Merchant’s Tale, from Chaucer”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC, page 217: ↩

2. 2008 January 15, Jon Pareles, “To See (and Hear) the World in Five Hours: Unique Sounds Ripe for Import”, in The New York Times ‎${}^{[1]}$: ↩

3. 2018, Robert Philip, The Classical Music Lover’s Companion to Orchestral Music, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 465: ↩

4. 2018, Sally Rooney, “Six Months Later (July 2013)”, in Normal People: ↩

5. 1858, Peter Lund Simmonds, The Dictionary of Trade Products ↩

6. 1895, S. R. Crockett, A Cry Across the Black Water: ↩

7. 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XIII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC: ↩

Link to original

Secondary

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