fiddle
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Origin of fiddle
Related Words for fiddled
fool, fidget, interfere, trifle, play, toy, handle, monkey, feel, tamper, putter, dabble, mess, finger, twiddle, doodle, touch, puddle, potterExamples from the Web for fiddled
Contemporary Examples of fiddled
He fiddled with a baseball once signed by a great Birmingham Barons team of the past.
As she fiddled with her key in the lock, the Killer opened the door from within.
He fiddled on the table with two smartphones and the keys to his Jeep when asked if he had lost friends in Qusayr.
At least when Nero fiddled, Romans got to hear music over the flames.
Scripts were scotch-taped to the reverse side of the curtains; jokes were fiddled with or created on the spot.
Historical Examples of fiddled
He turned the vision set on and fiddled absurdly with the controls.
MoraleMurray Leinster
Degbrend put on another communication-screen and fiddled for a moment.
A Slave is a SlaveHenry Beam Piper
Martha fiddled with the cloak she was sewing for her husband.
Blind Man's LanternAllen Kim Lang
Dane picked up a linen map, looked at it, fiddled with the corner.
AthalieRobert W. Chambers
They were fiddled and danced away for at least twenty-four hours—perhaps for ever!
Vice VersaF. Anstey
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
- 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
Word Origin for fiddle
Word Origin and History for fiddled
fiddle
late 14c., from fiddle (n.); the figurative sense of "to act nervously or idly" is from 1520s. Related: Fiddled; fiddling.
fiddle
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.
fiddle
Another name for the violin; fiddle is the more common term for the instrument as played in folk music and bluegrass.
Idioms and Phrases with fiddled
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