FLUTE, noun [Latin flo, flatus, to blow, or Latin fluta, a lamprey, with the same number of holes.]

1. A small wind instrument; a pipe with lateral holes or stops, played by blowing with the mouth, and by stopping and opening the holes with the fingers.

2. A channel in a column or pillar; a perpendicular furrow or cavity, cut along the shaft of a column or pilaster; so called from its resemblance to a flute It is used chiefly in the Ionic order; sometimes in the Composite and Corinthian; rarely in the Doric and Tuscan. It is called also a reed.

3. A long vessel or boat, with flat ribs or floor timbers, round behind, and swelled in the middle; a different orthography of float, flota.

Armed in flute An armed ship, with her guns of the lower tier and part of those of the upper tier removed, used as a transport, is said to be armed in flute

FLUTE, verb intransitive To play on a flute

FLUTE, verb transitive To form flutes or channels in a column.