Now rare. [f. LUTE1.] a. intr. To play on the lute. b. quasi-trans. with cognate obj. or quoted words: To express by means of the lute. c. intr. To sound like a lute.
a. a. 1479. Caxton, Bk. Curtesye, xliv. To harpe and lute, or lustely to syng.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., xvi. (Percy Soc.), 64. I may not lute, or yet daunce or synge!
1549–62. Sternhold & H., Ps. lxxi. 23. Therefore thy faythfulnesse to prayse, I will both Lute and sing.
c. 1580. Jefferie, Bugbears, I. iii. 83, in Archiv Stud. Neu. Spr. (1897), XCVIII. 313. He lutethe, he harpethe, and singethe all the day.
b. 1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVIII. 423. Thanne luted Loue in a loude note, Ecce quam bonum et quam iocundum, etc.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, IV. 111. Knaves are men, That lute and flute fantastic tenderness.
c. 1821. Keats, Lamia, I. 167. Her new voice luting soft Cried, ‘Lycius.’
