lute

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a plucked string instrument with a rounded back, flat front, fretted neck, and usually a bent-back pegbox

   The singer accompanied the Renaissance song on a six-course lute.

2. 2
   noun

   a sealing material used to make a joint or porous vessel impervious to gas or liquid

   The chemist applied heat-resistant lute around the neck of the retort.

3. 3
   verb

   to play a lute or make music resembling a lute's sound

   The court musician luted softly beneath the gallery.

The instrument name came through Middle French lut and Old French leut from Old Occitan laut, ultimately Arabic al-ud, literally 'the wood.' The unrelated sealing-material sense came through Latin lutum, 'mud or clay.'

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