flute

Etymology 1

From Middle English fleute, floute, flote, from Old French flaute, from Provençal flaut, of uncertain origin. Perhaps ultimately from three possibilities: * Blend of Provencal flaujol (“flageolet”) + laut (“lute”) * From Latin flātus (“blowing”), from flāre (“to blow”) * Imitative. Doublet of flauta and fluyt.

noun

1. 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.
2. (colloquial) A recorder, also a woodwind instrument.
3. 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. 2018, Sally Rooney, “Six Months Later (July 2013)”, in Normal People
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
5. (architecture, firearms) A semicylindrical vertical groove, as in a pillar, in plaited cloth, or in a rifle barrel to cut down the weight.
6. A long French bread roll, baguette.
7. An organ stop with a flute-like sound.
8. A shuttle in weaving tapestry etc.

verb

1. (intransitive) To play on a flute.
2. (intransitive) To make a flutelike sound.
   The green turf was velvet underfoot. The blackbirds fluted in the hazels there. 1895, S. R. Crockett, A Cry Across the Black Water
3. (transitive) To utter with a flutelike sound.
4. (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.).

Etymology 2

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

noun

1. A kind of flyboat; a storeship.