flut´er

flute «floot», noun, verb, flut|ed, flut|ing.

–n.

1. a long, slender, pipelike musical instrument. A flute is played by blowing across a hole near one end. Different notes are made by covering different holes along the tube with the fingers or with keys. »

Rang the pure music of the flutes of Greece (Algernon Charles Swinburne).

2. an organ stop with a flutelike tone.

3. a long, round or elliptical groove, especially one of a parallel series. Some columns have flutes.

4. a decorative fine groove or crimp pressed into a fabric, such as one in a ruffle or pleating on a garment.

5. a very tall, thin wineglass.

–v.t.

1. to make long, round grooves in: »

to flute a pillar in lonic style.

2. to play (a melody) on a flute.

3. to sing, whistle, say, etc., in flutelike tones: »

The redwing flutes his o-ka-lee (Emerson).

4. to press (a ruffle) in flutes.

–v.i.

1. to play on a flute.

2. to sing or whistle so as to sound like a flute: »

The thrushes are in song there, fluting from the nest (John Masefield).

╂[< Old French fleüte, or flaüte < Provençal flauta, perhaps ultimately < Latin flāre to blow]

–flute´like´, adjective.

–flut´er, noun.