Definition of "fluting" [flut•ing]

• Architecture A decorative motif consisting of a series of uniform, usually vertical flutes, as those incised in the surface of a column. (noun)
• The act of incising or making grooves. (noun)
• The grooves formed by narrow pleats in cloth, as in a ruffle. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "If spiral fluting is the main reason, perhaps someday we'll see it as standard issue barrel apparel on U.S. military rifles and machine guns such as the M-14, M-16 or M-240."
• "Wormwood buttering rack, Edwardian rat-hair doormat, woodworm in French fluting and the set of wooden birthing stirrups ...... are not necessarily an essential accompaniment to the modern bric a brac home, to which he adds:"
• "All were “Recommended with reservations” and the only one that came close to the score for the top two pans was the scalloped edge Pyrex, which the testers didn’t like only because the “press-in fluting actually made pies look messy,” even though it baked the pies perfectly."