Category:Lute

Lute, n. Etym: [L. lutum mud, clay: cf. OF. lut.]

1. (Chem.)

Defn: A cement of clay or other tenacious infusible substance for sealing joints in apparatus, or the mouths of vessels or tubes, or for coating the bodies of retorts, etc., when exposed to heat; -- called also luting.

2. A packing ring, as of rubber, for fruit jars, etc.

3. (Brick Making)

Defn: A straight-edged piece of wood for striking off superfluous clay from mold.

lute Lute, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Luted; p. pr. & vb. n. Luting.]

Defn: To close or seal with lute; as, to lute on the cover of a crucible; to lute a joint.

lute Lute, n. Etym: [OF. leut, F. luth; skin to Pr. laút, It. liúto, leúto, Sp. laúd, Pg. alaude; all fr. Ar. al'; al the + ' wood, timber, trunk or branch of a tree, staff, stick, wood of aloes, lute or harp.] (Mus.)

Defn: A stringed instrument formerly much in use. It consists of four parts, namely, the table or front, the body, having nine or ten ribs or "sides," arranged like the divisions of a melon, the neck, which has nine or ten frets or divisions, and the head, or cross, in which the screws for tuning are inserted. The strings are struck with the right hand, and with the left the stops are pressed.

lute Lute, v. i.

Defn: To sound, as a lute. Piers Plowman. Keats.

lute Lute, v. t.

Defn: To play on a lute, or as on a lute. Knaves are men That lute and flute fantastic tenderness. Tennyson.