Definition of "lute"

lute¹

/l(j)uːt/

noun
plural lutes
1. A fretted stringed instrument of European origin, 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.
verb
third-person singular simple present lutes, present participle luting, simple past and past participle luted
1. To play on a lute, or as if on a lute.
  Quotations
  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, […]
  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, […]

/l(j)uːt/