lute1

[loot] /lut/
noun
1.
a stringed musical instrument having a long, fretted neck and a hollow, typically pear-shaped body with a vaulted back.
verb (used without object), luted, luting.
2.
to play a lute.
verb (used with object), luted, luting.
3.
to perform (music) on a lute:
a musician skilled at luting Elizabethan ballads.
4.
to express (a feeling, mood, etc.) by means of a lute:
The minstrel eloquently luted his melancholy.
Origin
1325-75; Middle English < Middle French, Old French < Old Provençal laut < Arabic al ʿūd literally, the wood

lute2

[loot] /lut/
noun
1.
luting.
verb (used with object), luted, luting.
2.
to seal or cement with luting.
Origin
1375-1425; late Middle English < Medieval Latin lutum, special use of Latin lutum mud, clay

lute3

[loot] /lut/
noun
1.
a paving tool for spreading and smoothing concrete, consisting of a straightedge mounted transversely on a long handle.
verb (used with object), luted, luting.
2.
to spread and smooth (concrete in a pavement) with a lute.
Origin
1870-75, Americanism; < Dutch loet
Examples from the web for lute
  • There is something endearing about the contradictions embodied in the lute.
  • Samurai generals practiced calligraphy, took up flower arranging, and played the lute.
  • The pipa is a short-necked lute favored by blind troubadours in ancient times but now used frequently as a concert instrument.
  • The lights were low, the music soft and soothing, a lute was being plucked in the background.
  • In the old days, idle fellows gathered in barbershops to exchange the latest news, and lute and viol were played.
  • The pipa is a four-stringed pear-shaped instrument that resembles the lute, and is one of the world's oldest instruments.
  • It is a short-necked wasted lute, the lower chamber having a parchment sound-table.
  • They should be home, improving their minds and practicing the lute.
  • To prove he's not your everyday teamster, he starts out playing the harmonica and ends up twanging a lute.
  • lute acted almost as a co-national security advisor, but with a narrower portfolio.
British Dictionary definitions for lute

lute1

/luːt/
noun
1.
an ancient plucked stringed instrument, consisting of a long fingerboard with frets and gut strings, and a body shaped like a sliced pear
Word Origin
C14: from Old French lut, via Old Provençal from Arabic al `ūd, literally: the wood

lute2

/luːt/
noun
1.
Also called luting. a mixture of cement and clay used to seal the joints between pipes, etc
2.
(dentistry) a thin layer of cement used to fix a crown or inlay in place on a tooth
verb
3.
(transitive) to seal (a joint or surface) with lute
Word Origin
C14: via Old French ultimately from Latin lutum clay
Word Origin and History for lute
n.

stringed musical instrument, late 13c., from Old French lut, leut, from Old Provençal laut, from Arabic al-'ud, the Arabian lute, literally "the wood" (source of Spanish laud, Portuguese alaude, Italian liuto), where al is the definite article. A player is a lutist (1620s) or a lutanist (c.1600, from Medieval Latin hybrid lutanista).