Flute
(Flute) v. i. [OE. flouten, floiten, OF. flaüter, fleüter, flouster, F. flûter, cf. D. fluiten; ascribed to an
assumed LL. flautare, flatuare, fr. L. flatus a blowing, fr. flare to blow. Cf. Flout, Flageolet, Flatulent.]
To play on, or as on, a flute; to make a flutelike sound.
Flute
(Flute), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fluted ; p. pr. & vb. n. Fluting ]
1. To play, whistle, or sing with a clear, soft note, like that of a flute.
Knaves are men,
That lute and flute fantastic tenderness.
Tennyson.
The redwing flutes his o-ka-lee.
Emerson. 2. To form flutes or channels in, as in a column, a ruffle, etc.
Flûte à bec
(||Flûte` à bec") [F.] (Mus.) A beak flute, an older form of the flute, played with a mouthpiece resembling
a beak, and held like a flageolet.
Fluted
(Flut"ed) a.
1. Thin; fine; clear and mellow; flutelike; as, fluted notes. Busby.
2. Decorated with flutes; channeled; grooved; as, a fluted column; a fluted ruffle; a fluted spectrum.
Flutemouth
(Flute"mouth`) n. (Zoöl.) A fish of the genus Aulostoma, having a much elongated tubular
snout.
Fluter
(Flut"er) n.
1. One who plays on the flute; a flutist or flautist.
2. One who makes grooves or flutings.
Fluting
(Flut"ing), n. Decoration by means of flutes or channels; a flute, or flutes collectively; as, the fluting
of a column or pilaster; the fluting of a lady's ruffle.
Fluting iron, a laundry iron for fluting ruffles; — called also Italian iron, or gaufering iron. Knight. —
Fluting lathe, a machine for forming spiral flutes, as on balusters, table legs, etc.
Flutist
(Flut"ist) n. [Cf. F. flûtiste.] A performer on the flute; a flautist. Busby.
2. To move with quick vibrations or undulations; as, a sail flutters in the wind; a fluttering fan.
3. To move about briskly, irregularly, or with great bustle and show, without much result.
No rag, no scrap, of all the beau, or wit,
That once so fluttered, and that once so writ.
Pope. 4. To be in agitation; to move irregularly; to flucttuate; to be uncertainty.
Long we fluttered on the wings of doubtful success.
Howell.
His thoughts are very fluttering and wandering.
I. Watts. Flutter
(Flut"ter) v. t.
