fiddlestick

American  

[fid-l-stik] / ˈfɪd lˌstɪk /

noun

1. anything; a bit.

   I don't care a fiddlestick for what they say.

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fiddlestick British  

/ ˈfɪdəlˌstɪk /

noun

1. informal a violin bow

2. any meaningless or inconsequential thing; trifle

3. an expression of annoyance or disagreement

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Etymology

Origin of fiddlestick

First recorded in 1400–50, fiddlestick is from the late Middle English word fidillstyk. See fiddle, stick ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fiddlestick

I charge you in the Kings name, play the man, Which if you do not quickly, I begin with you, I'le make you dance, do you see your fiddlestick?

From The Little French Lawyer A Comedy by Francis Beaumont

Here follow fiddlestick, compounded of fiddle and stick, and warranted an English word by Hudibras; and Fiddle-string, s.

From Deformities of Samuel Johnson, Selected from his Works by Anonymous

Dissevered tones, as of a violin, floated in the disturbed air; and when the phantom lifted his fiddlestick, it seemed as if he sent a recognising nod towards his godchild.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 56, No. 346, August, 1844 by Various

Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the Goldsmith; "you forget that Lehsen doesn't care a fiddlestick about money.

From The Serapion Brethren. Vol. II by Ernst Theordor Wilhelm Hoffmann

And this was the first time George Esmond Warrington, Esquire, was ever called a fiddlestick.

From The Virginians by William Makepeace Thackeray