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Lute vs Fiddle - What's the difference?

lute | fiddle |

As nouns the difference between lute and fiddle

is that lute is a fretted stringed instrument, similar to a guitar, having a bowl-shaped body or soundbox while fiddle is any of various bowed string instruments, often used to refer to a violin when played in any of various traditional styles, as opposed to classical violin.

As verbs the difference between lute and fiddle

is that lute is to play on a lute, or as if on a lute while fiddle is to play aimlessly.

lute

English

(wikipedia lute)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) lut (modern (luth)), from (etyl) (probably representing an (etyl) or North African pronunciation).

Noun

(en noun)
  • A fretted stringed instrument, similar to a guitar, having a bowl-shaped body or soundbox.
  • See also

    * barbiton, barbitos * guembri * guqin * mandola * mandolin * oud * pipa * rebab * samisen, shamisen * theorbo

    Verb

    (lut)
  • To play on a lute, or as if on a lute.
  • * Tennyson
  • Knaves are men / That lute and flute fantastic tenderness.
    (Piers Plowman)
    (Keats)

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) lut, ultimately from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Thick sticky clay or cement used to close up a hole or gap, especially to make something air-tight.
  • A packing ring, as of rubber, for fruit jars, etc.
  • (brickmaking) A straight-edged piece of wood for striking off superfluous clay from mould.
  • Verb

    (lut)
  • To fix or fasten something with lute.
  • * 1888 , Rudyard Kipling, ‘A Friend's Friend’, Plain Tales from the Hills , Folio Society 2005, page 179:
  • To protect everything till it dried, a man luted a big blue paper cap from a cracker, with meringue-cream, low down on Jevon's forehead.

    Anagrams

    * ----

    fiddle

    English

    (wikipedia fiddle)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (music) Any of various bowed string instruments, often used to refer to a violin when played in any of various traditional styles, as opposed to classical violin.
  • When I play it like this, it's a fiddle; when I play it like that, it's a violin.
  • A kind of dock (Rumex pulcher ) with leaves shaped like the musical instrument.
  • An adjustment intended to cover up a basic flaw.
  • That parameter setting is just a fiddle to make the lighting look right.
  • A fraud; a scam.
  • (nautical) On board a ship or boat, a rail or batten around the edge of a table or stove to prevent objects falling off at sea. (Also fiddle rail )
  • Synonyms

    * (instrument) violin

    Derived terms

    * fiddle brake * fiddle factor * fiddle-faddle * fiddlehead * fiddly * first fiddle * fit as a fiddle * lead fiddle * second fiddle

    See also

    * crowd, crwth

    Verb

    (fiddl)
  • To play aimlessly.
  • * Samuel Pepys
  • Talking, and fiddling with their hats and feathers.
    You're fiddling your life away.
  • To adjust in order to cover a basic flaw or fraud etc.
  • I needed to fiddle the lighting parameters to get the image to look right.
    Fred was sacked when the auditors caught him fiddling the books.
  • (music) To play traditional tunes on a violin in a non-classical style.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • Themistocles said he could not fiddle , but he could make a small town a great city.

    Synonyms

    * (to adjust in order to cover a basic flaw) fudge

    Derived terms

    * fiddle about * fiddle around * fiddle the books * fiddle with * fiddler

    See also

    * fritter