Forms: 4–5 flowte, 5 flo(y)te, 6–7 fluit(e, 6– flute. [ME. a. OF. fleüte, flaüte, flahute (also written flahuste), mod. F. flûte = Pr. flauta fem., of unknown origin; the Sp. flauta, It. flauto are prob. adopted from Fr. or Pr. From Fr. are MHG. floite (mod.Ger. flöte), Da. fluit (whence possibly the ME. forms).
Diez’s suggestion, that the Rom. flauta, flauto was f. the vb. flautare, and that this was a metathesis of L. flātuāre, is phonologically impossible. Ascoli’s proposal to refer the vb. to a L. type *flāvitāre is also inadmissible.]
1. 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 flute of the ancients, whether single or double, was blown through a mouthpiece at the end. About the middle of the 18th cent. this was entirely superseded by the transverse or German flute, which is blown through an orifice at the side near the upper end.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, III. 133.
| And many flowte and liltyng horne, | |
| And pipes made of grene corne. |
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 95/1. The mayde remembred the wordes and threwe doun her pype or floyte.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 86. When they … harde the noyse of the fluites, shalmes, and drummes, they were wonderfully astonyed at the sweete harmony therof.
1625. Purchas, Pilgrimes, IV. 1533. There came Indians peaceably, to visit their Lord, and euery day met vs on the way playing vpon Flutes: which is a token that they vse, that men may know that they come in peace.
1718. Prior, Pleasure, 77.
| The Trumpet’s Sound | |
| Provok’d the DORIAN Flute. |
1756. T. Amory, J. Buncle (1825), I. 5. My relaxation after study was my german-flute and the conversation of some ingenious, sober friend.
a. 1822. Shelley, Unf. Drama, 180.
| I nursed the plant, and on the double flute | |
| Played to it on the sunny winter days | |
| Soft melodies, as sweet as April rain | |
| On silent leaves. |
1853. C. Kingsley, Hypatia, xxii. A single flute within the curtain began to send forth luscious strains, deadened and distant, as if through far-off glens and woodlands.
1879. Stainer, Music of Bible, 80. Within the last few years an attempt has been made to revive these instruments, a concert having been given in London on which a quartet was played by four flutes, treble, alto, tenor, and bass.
† b. phr. To (go and) blow one’s flute: to ‘whistle’ for something. Obs.
a. 1549. Skelton, Vox Populi, vii. 8.
| When thei have any sute, | |
| Thei maye goo blowe theire flute: | |
| This goithe the comon brute. |
c. A flute-player.
1542. Privy Purse Exps. P’cess Mary (1831), 104. The Welshe mynstrels iijs. ixd. The Flutes xs.
1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), Trav. Twelvepence, Wks. I. 71/1.
| To Hang-men, Side-men, to Churchwardens, Cryers, | |
| To Fluits, Horse-coursers, Sellers, and to Buyers. |
1765. E. Thompson, Meretriciad, 48.
| Then, solus, hops, a dull Orchestran flute, | |
| Behind him waddles a theatric Mute. |
1837. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Tales, ix. Two flutes and a violoncello had pleaded severe colds.
2. An organ-stop having a flute-like tone. Also flute-stop (see 7).
There are various kinds of flute-stops known by special designations, as the clear, harmonic, oboe, snake flute.
1613. Organ Specif. Worcester Cathedral, 1 flute of wood.
1776. Sir J. Hawkins, Hist. Musick, IV. I. x. 147. The simple stops are the … Flute … and some others.
1855. Hopkins & Rimbault, Organ, xxii. 118. As a Pedal stop, the Flute has not yet been much used in this country, although it is of the greatest utility.
3. Applied to objects resembling a flute in shape.
† a. A tall, slender wine-glass, used especially for sparkling wines. Called also flute-glass. Obs.
1649. Lovelace, Lucasta, 99.
| For Elles of Beere, Flutes of Canary | |
| That well did washe downe pasties-mary. |
b. A shuttle used in tapestry-weaving.
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Tapestry, The flute does the office of the weaver’s shuttle.
c. Cookery, etc. (See quots.) Perh. only Fr.
1855. H. Clarke, Dict., Flute … gaufer.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Flute … a long thin French roll eaten at breakfast.
4. Arch. A channel or furrow in a pillar, resembling the half of a flute split longitudinally, with the concave side outwards.
1660. Bloome, Archit., A/1. Stria, the flat lying between the Flutes.
1728. R. Morris, Ess. Anc. Archit., 81. The Column is divided into twenty-four Flutes…. Each Side contains three Flutes.
1879. Sir G. G. Scott, Lect. Archit., II. 126. Vast round columns … having their shafts decorated with spiral, zig-zag, intersecting, and vertical flutes.
5. A similar groove or channel in any material. In Botany: see quot. 1727–41.
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., Flutes or Flutings are also used in botany, to denote the stems and fruits of certain plants, which have furrows analogous to those of columns.
1776. Withering, Brit. Plants (1796), III. 98. The style, to which it is slightly connected along its whole length, and which has 5 grooves or flutes to receive the 5 seeds with their appendages.
1842. Bischoff, Woollen Manuf., II. 393. These, instead of being wound round a roller, fall into the flutes of a fluted cylinder.
1855. Ogilvie, Suppl., Flute. A channel in the muslin of a lady’s ruffle, similar to that in a column or pillar.
1865. Mrs. Palliser, Lace, xvi. 208. As early as 1582 its lace-makers are described at the entry of the Duke of Anjou into the city, ‘as wearing a special costume. A gown of striped stuff, with a cap of fine linen plaited in small flutes.’
1878. Garnett, in Encycl. Brit., VIII. 728. When it lies within the mean, or spheroidal, surface so as to form a ‘flute,’ less surface is exposed by it.
6. slang. a. (See quot. 1700.) b. A pistol.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Flute, the Recorder of London, or of any other Town.
1842. S. Lover, Handy Andy, iii. ‘If the poor devil isn’t a good shot, I wouldn’t like to kill him, and I’ll let him off easy—I’ll give it him in the pistol-arm, or so.’ ‘Very well, Ned. Where are the flutes? I must look over them.’
7. attrib. and Comb., as flute-girl, -maker, -music, -note; flute-playing vbl. sb.; flute-like adj. Also flute-bird (Australia), the piping crow (Gymnorhina tibicen); flute-bit (see quot.); flute-glass, see 3 above; flute-mouth, a fish of the family Fistulariidæ; flute-organ (see quot. 1828); flute-player, (a) one who plays the flute; (b) a South American wren of the genus Cyphorinus; flute-stop = sense 2 above; flute-tool (cf. flute-bit); flute-work (see quot. 1879).
1862. H. Kendall, Poems, 53.
| The echu’s songs are dying with the *flute-bird’s mellow tone, | |
| And night recalls the gloomy owl to rove the wilds alone. |
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 893/2. *Flute-bit. A wood-boring tool adapted to be used in a brace, and used in boring ebony, rosewood, and other hard woods.
1853. Hickie, trans. Aristoph. (1887) I. 22. The city would have been full … of people buying jars, of garlic, olives, onions in nets, chaplets, sprats, *flute-girls, and black eyes.
1667. Dryden, Sir M. Mar-all, V. i. Bring two *Flute-glasses and some Stools, Ho, we’ll have the Ladies Health.
1729. Savage, Wanderer, V. 87.
| While Music trembles in their songful Throats, | |
| The Bullfinch whistles soft his *flute-like Notes. |
1849. Marryat, Valerie, xi. His business with him, which was relative to some *flute-music which the Comte wished to be published.
1887. Encycl. Brit., XXII. 548. *Flute Mouths (Fistulariidæ).
1833. Tennyson, Poems, The Blackbird, 17.
| And in the sultry garden-squares, | |
| Now thy *flute-notes are changed to coarse, | |
| I hear thee not at all, or hoarse | |
| As when a hawker hawks his wares. |
1828. T. Busby, Music. Man., *Flute Organ. A little barrel-organ, the compass and tone of the notes of which render it imitative of the German flute.
1633. Prynne, Histrio-Mastix, I. VII. iii. 652. If a Stage-player, be it man or woman, a Chariotor, gladiator, race-runner, a fencer, a practiser of the Olympian games, a *flute-player, a fidler, a harper, a dancer, an alehouse-keeper, come to turne Christian.
1875. Longf., Pandora, VI.
| Hark! listen! Hear how sweetly overhead | |
| The feathered flute-players pipe their songs of love, | |
| And echo answers, love and only love. |
1831. Macaulay, in Life & Lett. (1880), I. 211. We had *flute-playing by the first flute-player in England.
1819. Rees, Cycl., *Flute-stop on an Organ.
1887. Pall Mall G., 1 July, 5/2. Chisels, modelling tools, files, *flute tools [etc.].
1879. Hopkins, in Grove, Dict. Mus., I. 538. *Flute-work, under this head are grouped all the flue-stops of whatever kind, shape, or tone, that are not classed as Principal-work, or Gedact-work.
