ˈlute-string1
[f. lute n.1 + string n.]
1. A string of (or adapted for) a lute.
| 1530 Palsgr. 241/2 Lutestryng, cordeav, cordon de lus. 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. ci. 143 Long threedes (like to very fine and small lutestrings). 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iii. ii. 61 His iesting spirit, which is now crept into a lute-string, and now gouern'd by stops. 1630 Davenant Cruel Bro. v. i, Thy wrist vaynes are cut, Heere In this Bason bleed: till drynesse made them curle Like Lute-strings in the fire. 1731 Arbuthnot Nat. Aliments (1735) 157 A Lute-string will bear a hundred Weight without Rupture. 1820 Keats Isabella ii, Her lute-string gave an echo of his name. 1855 Browning Fra Lippo 52 There came..A sweep of lute⁓strings, laughs, and whifts of song. |
| attrib. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xv. ¶9 Fine Lute-string Wyer..is.. fastned by twisting about half an Inch of the end of the Lute-string to the rest of the Lute-string. |
2. A noctuid moth having lines resembling the strings of a lute on its wings.
| 1819 G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 402 The lesser Lutestring..The Poplar Lutestring. Ibid. Index, Lute⁓string moths. 1843 Westwood Brit. Moths I. 202. |