fiddle
[fid-l]
- a musical instrument of the viol family.
- violin: Her aunt plays first fiddle with the state symphony orchestra.
- Nautical. a small ledge or barrier raised in heavy weather to keep dishes, pots, utensils, etc., from sliding off tables and stoves.
- British Informal. swindle; fraud.
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- to play on the fiddle.
- to make trifling or fussing movements with the hands (often followed by with): fiddling with his cuffs.
- to touch or manipulate something, as to operate or adjust it; tinker (often followed by with): You may have to fiddle with the antenna to get a clear picture on the TV.
- to waste time; trifle; dally (often followed by around): Stop fiddling around and get to work.
- British Informal. to cheat.
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- to play (a tune) on a fiddle.
- to trifle or waste (usually used with away): to fiddle time away.
- Bookbinding. to bind together (sections or leaves of a book) by threading a cord through holes cut lengthwise into the back.
- British Informal.
- to falsify: to fiddle the account books.
- to cheat: to fiddle the company out of expense money.
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- fine as a fiddle, South Midland and Southern U.S. fiddle(def 15).
- fit as a fiddle, in perfect health; very fit: The doctor told him he was fit as a fiddle.Also as fit as a fiddle.
- play second fiddle. second fiddle.
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Origin of fiddle
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
foolfidgetinterferetrifleplaytoyhandlemonkeyfeeltamperputterdabblemessfingertwiddledoodletouchpuddlepotterExamples from the Web for fiddle
Contemporary Examples
On Wall Street, Bank of America plays a perpetual second fiddle to JPMorgan Chase Co., the only U.S. bank that holds more assets.
"He looked at it and he started to fiddle with the cable," Mrs. Perez told The Telegraph.
Willie Polk played the fiddle and another boy, call him Shoefus, played the guitar, like I did.
There the lingua franca is Cajun French, and folks love to fiddle, dance and most of all, eat.
When bourbon went corporate, tradition and quality had begun to play second fiddle to the primacy of profit.
Historical Examples
Why, inside two weeks he'll be fit as a fiddle, and inside a month he'll be his own self!
Way of the LawlessMax Brand
For he had been painfully conscious now and then that he played but second fiddle.
Weighed and WantingGeorge MacDonald
So the lad seated himself, and placed his fiddle in position.
Rico and WiseliJohanna Spyri
I know how to play 'Little lambkins, come down,' if I only had a fiddle.
Rico and WiseliJohanna Spyri
And the teacher opened the door, and took his fiddle from its place on the wall.
Rico and WiseliJohanna Spyri
fiddle
- informal any instrument of the viol or violin family, esp the violin
- a violin played as a folk instrument
- time-wasting or trifling behaviour; nonsense; triviality
- nautical a small railing around the top of a table to prevent objects from falling off it in bad weather
- British informal an illegal or fraudulent transaction or arrangement
- British informal a manually delicate or tricky operation
- at the fiddle or on the fiddle informal engaged in an illegal or fraudulent undertaking
- face as long as a fiddle informal a dismal or gloomy facial expression
- fit as a fiddle informal in very good health
- play second fiddle informal to be subordinate; play a minor part
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- to play (a tune) on the fiddle
- (intr often foll by with) to make restless or aimless movements with the hands
- (when intr, often foll by about or around) informal to spend (time) or act in a careless or inconsequential manner; waste (time)
- (often foll by with) informal to tamper or interfere (with)
- informal to contrive to do (something) by illicit means or deceptionhe fiddled his way into a position of trust
- (tr) informal to falsify (accounts, etc); swindle
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Word Origin
Old English fithele, probably from Medieval Latin vītula, from Latin vītulārī to celebrate; compare Old High German fidula fiddle; see viola 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for fiddle
n.
late 14c., fedele, earlier fithele, from Old English fiðele, which is related to Old Norse fiðla, Middle Dutch vedele, Dutch vedel, Old High German fidula, German Fiedel; all of uncertain origin.
Perhaps from Medieval Latin vitula "stringed instrument," which is perhaps related to Latin vitularia "celebrate joyfully," from Vitula, Roman goddess of joy and victory, who probably, like her name, originated among the Sabines [Klein, Barnhart]. Unless the Medieval Latin word is from the Germanic ones.
Fiddle has been relegated to colloquial usage by its more proper cousin, violin, a process encouraged by phraseology such as fiddlesticks, contemptuous nonsense word fiddlededee (1784), and fiddle-faddle. Fit as a fiddle is from 1610s.
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v.
late 14c., from fiddle (n.); the figurative sense of "to act nervously or idly" is from 1520s. Related: Fiddled; fiddling.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
fiddle
Another name for the violin; fiddle is the more common term for the instrument as played in folk music and bluegrass.
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Idioms and Phrases with fiddle
fiddle
In addition to the idiom beginning with fiddle
- fiddle while Rome burns
also see:
- fit as a fiddle
- hang up (one's fiddle)
- play second fiddle
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.