fiddler

[fid-ler]

noun

a person who plays a fiddle.

a person who dawdles or trifles.

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for fiddler

Contemporary Examples of fiddler

Almost all involved with the creation of Fiddler on the Roof had familial ties to the world Sholem Aleichem described.
The Strange Power of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’
Jen Vafidis
October 28, 2013
And near the end of the play, Seguin offered an allusion to Fiddler on the Roof, yelling, “Sunrise, sunset!”
Chaz Bono’s ‘Independence Day’: Strippers, Racism & More Crazy Moments
Anna Klassen
June 25, 2013

Historical Examples of fiddler

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

a person who plays the fiddle, esp in folk music

See fiddler crab

a person who wastes time or acts aimlessly

informal a cheat or petty rogue

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

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.