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fiddler

[fid-ler]
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noun
  1. a person who plays a fiddle.
  2. a person who dawdles or trifles.
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Origin of fiddler

before 1100; Middle English, Old English fithelere; cognate with Dutch vedelaar, German Fiedler. See fiddle, -er1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for fiddler

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • I saw it myself three nights ago, and it was as drunk as a fiddler.

    Changing Winds

    St. John G. Ervine

  • It is then that they "cut off the fiddler's head," and play valentines, which they call the "Goggans."

    The Manxman

    Hall Caine

  • Seems to me the house is running wild with photographs of that fiddler, he said.

    The Fifth String  

    John Philip Sousa

  • Borghild lifted her eyes, and they met those of the fiddler.

    Tales From Two Hemispheres

    Hjalmar Hjorth Boysen

  • "I don't care a fiddler's damn where you sent the horse," replied the hunchback.

    Dwellers in the Hills

    Melville Davisson Post

British Dictionary definitions for fiddler

fiddler

noun
  1. a person who plays the fiddle, esp in folk music
  2. See fiddler crab
  3. a person who wastes time or acts aimlessly
  4. informal a cheat or petty rogue
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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 fiddler

n.

late 13c., from Old English fiðelere "fiddler" (fem. fiðelestre), agent noun from fiddle (v.). Fiddler's Green first recorded 1825, from sailors' slang. Fiddler crab is from 1714.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper