“flutes” is a form of
flute
/flu(ː)t/ noun, verb
Forms flutes fluting fluted
- noun (music) 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.
- noun (colloquial) A recorder, also a woodwind instrument.
- noun A glass with a long, narrow bowl and a long stem, used for drinking wine, especially champagne.
- noun 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.
- noun (architecture, firearms) A semicylindrical vertical groove, as in a pillar, in plaited cloth, or in a rifle barrel to cut down the weight.
- noun A long French bread roll, baguette.
- noun An organ stop with a flute-like sound.
- noun A shuttle in weaving tapestry etc.
- verb (intransitive) To play on a flute.
- verb (intransitive) To make a flutelike sound.
- verb (transitive) To utter with a flutelike sound.
- verb (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.).
- noun A kind of flyboat; a storeship.
Synonyms
Western concert flute edge-blown aerophone transverse flute flute glass champagne flute fluting
Etymology
From Middle English fleute, floute, flote, from Old French flaute, fleüte, from Old Provençal flaüt, of uncertain origin. Perhaps ultimately from three possibilities:
* Blend of Provencal flaujol (“flageolet”) + laüt (“lute”)
* From Latin flātus (“blowing”), from flāre (“to blow”)
Doublet of flauta and fluyt.
Compare French flûte (“a transport”)?, Dutch fluit.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A musical wind instrument, consisting of a hollow cylinder or pipe, with holes along its length, stopped by the fingers or by keys which are opened by the fingers. The modern flute is closed at the upper end, and blown with the mouth at a lateral hole.
- noun A channel of curved section; --usually applied to one of a vertical series of such channels used to decorate columns and pilasters in classical architecture. See Illust. under Base, n.
- noun A kindof flyboat; a storeship. Armed en flûte ( (Nav.), partially armed.
- verb To play on, or as on, a flute; to make a flutelike sound.
Etymology [OE. floute, floite, fr. OF. flaüte, flahute, flahuste, F. fl; cf. LL. flauta, D. fluit. See Flute, v. i.]
Etymology [Cf. F. fl a transport, D. fluit.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “flute”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details