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flutelike

 - 3 dictionary results

flute

  [floot] noun, verb, flut⋅ed, flut⋅ing.
Use flutelike in a Sentence
–noun
1. 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. an organ stop with wide flue pipes, having a flutelike tone.
3. Architecture, Furniture. a channel, groove, or furrow, as on the shaft of a 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. a slender, footed wineglass of the 17th century, having a tall, conical bowl.
7. a similar stemmed glass, used esp. for champagne.
–verb (used without object)
8. to produce flutelike sounds.
9. to play on a flute.
10. (of a metal strip or sheet) to kink or break in bending.
–verb (used with object)
11. to utter in flutelike tones.
12. to form longitudinal flutes or furrows in: to flute a piecrust.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME floute < MF flaüte, flahute, fleüte < OPr flaüt (perh. alter. of flaujol, flauja) < VL *flabeolum. See flageolet, lute

Related forms:
flutelike, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Cultural Dictionary

flute

A high-pitched woodwind, held horizontally by the player and played by blowing across a hole.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

flute 
c.1384, from O.Fr. flaute, from O.Prov. flaut, of uncertain origin, perhaps imitative or from L. flare "to blow;" perhaps influenced by Prov. laut "lute." The other Gmc. words (cf. Ger. flöte) are likewise borrowings from Fr. Ancient flutes were blown through a mouthpiece, like a recorder; the modern transverse or German flute developed 18c. The modern design and key system of the concert flute were perfected 1834 by Theobald Boehm. The architectural sense of "furrow in a pillar" (1660) is from fancied resemblance to the inside of a flute split down the middle. Meaning "tall, slender wine glass" is from 1649. Flutist (1603), probably from Fr. flûtiste, replaced M.E. flouter and is preferred in U.S. British preference is flautist (q.v.), a Continental reborrowing that returns the original diphthong.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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