flute

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
flute/fluːt/

▶noun

• 1 a high-pitched wind instrument consisting of a tube with holes along it, usually held horizontally so that the breath can be directed against a fixed edge.

• 2 Architecture an ornamental vertical groove in a column.

  ■ a trumpet-shaped frill on a garment.

• 3 a tall, narrow wine glass.

▶verb

• 1 speak in a melodious way.

  ■ literary play a flute or pipe.

• 2 (often as adj. fluted) make flutes or grooves in.

– derivatives
fluting noun,
fluty (also flutey) adjective .

– origin ME: from OFr. flahute, prob. from Provençal flaüt, perh. a blend of flaujol ‘flageolet’ + laüt ‘lute’.