Or transverse flute; Side-blown soprano woodwind instrument of considerable antiquity. The flute is difficult to master but capable of intricate melodies and expressive tonal shading. The player blows across an end hole, the air current being split by the opposite edge which causes pressure waves to form within the tube. The fingers are placed over holes in the tube to create different notes.
The flute has a extensive concert repertoire, including familiar pieces by J S Bach, Mozart, and the pastoral refrain of Debussy’s L’Aprčs-midi d’un faun/Afternoon of a Faun 1894. Vivaldi wrote a number of concertos for piccolo, and Maderna has composed for alto and bass flutes. Performers include James Galway and the Italian Severino Gazzelloni (1919– ).
The instrument originated in Asia about 900 BC. European flutes can be traced back to about 1100, and include the military fife, subsequently developed by the Hotteterre family of instrumentmakers into the single-key Baroque flute. Today’s orchestral chromatic flutes with extensive keywork derive from further modifications in the 19th century by Theobald Boehm. Now more usually made of silver, gold, or platinum than wood, they include the soprano flute in C4, the higher piccolo in C5, the alto in G3, and the bass flute in C3, a rarity in the orchestra but much in vogue during the avant-garde 1950s as a concert instrument and an evocative accompaniment to films of the nouvelle vague era.
1. A groove or furrow in cloth etc especially the shallow concave groove on the shaft of a column; SYN. fluting.
2. A high-pitched woodwind instrument; a slender tube closed at one end with finger holes on one end and an opening near the closed end across which the breath is blown; SYN. transverse flute.
3. A tall narrow wineglass; SYN. flute glass, champagne flute.

ETYM Old Eng. flouten, floiten, Old Fren. flaüter, fleüter, flouster, French flűter, cf. Dutch fluiten; ascribed to an assumed Late Lat. flautare, flatuare, from Latin flatus a blowing, from flare to blow. Related to Flout, Flageolet, Flatulent.
To form flutes in.