Lute Meaning
/l(j)uːt/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA fretted stringed instrument, similar to the guitar, having a bowl-shaped body or soundbox; any of a wide variety of chordophones with a pear-shaped body and a neck whose upper surface is in the same plane as the soundboard, with strings along the neck and parallel to the soundboard.
verbTo play on a lute, or as if on a lute.
Sentence Examples
'Welcome, O lute player,' said he. 'Where do you come from?'
Tom practiced playing the harp every odd numbered evening and the lute on even ones.
But what are you saying? A lute isn't a guitar!
CEFR Practice Quiz
The musician carefully tuned the strings of her ____, which had a pear-shaped wooden body.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The musician played a beautiful melody on the ____, an ancient stringed instrument that is still used.
Word Origin & History
From Middle French lut (modern luth), from Old French leüt, probably from Old Occitan laüt, from Arabic اَلْعُود (al-ʕūd, “wood”) (probably representing an Andalusian Arabic or North African pronunciation). Doublet of oud, lavta, and laouto.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Knaves are men / That lute and flute fantastic tenderness."
— 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page number, or |part=Prologue, I to VII, or conclusion)”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:
"in the air , her new voice luting soft"
— 1820, John Keats, “(please specify the poem)”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC:
"He employed a mixture of flour and white of egg spread upon a linen cloth to cement cracked glass vessels, and used other lutes for similar purposes."
— 1830, Thomas Thomson (chemist), The History of Chemistry, volume 1, page 41:
"To protect everything till it dried, a man […] luted a big blue paper cap from a cracker, with meringue-cream, low down on Jevon's forehead."
— 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘A Friend's Friend’, Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio Society, published 2005, page 179:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The musician carefully tuned the strings of her ____, which had a pear-shaped wooden body.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The musician played a beautiful melody on the ____, an ancient stringed instrument that is still used.