FLUTE, or FLUYT, is a kind of long vessel, with flat ribs or floor timbers, round aft, and swelled in the middle, which serves chiefly for carrying provisions in fleets or squadrons of ships, though it is often used in merchandise. The word flute, signifying a sort of boat or vessel, is, according to Borel, derived from the ancient flotte, a little boat. In the verbal process of the miracles of St Catherine of Sweden, in the twelfth century, we meet with the following words: "Unus equum suum una cum mercibus magni ponderis introduxit super instrumentum de lignis fabricatum, vulgariter dictum fluta."