fiddlestick
Americannoun
noun
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informal a violin bow
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any meaningless or inconsequential thing; trifle
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an expression of annoyance or disagreement
Etymology
Origin of fiddlestick
First recorded in 1400–50, fiddlestick is from the late Middle English word fidillstyk. See fiddle, stick 1
Vocabulary lists containing fiddlestick
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In his hands he clutched a fiddle and fiddlestick.
From The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 1, April, 1851 by Various
Like all things of real value, it is very simple; it is based on the same principle as that of the locusts; there is the toothed fiddlestick and the vibrating tympanum.
From Social Life in the Insect World by Bernard Miall
An' who d'ye think do work the fiddlestick?
From Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect by William Barnes
Didn't she, rather, do you the honor to say, 'A fiddlestick for your phrases!
From The American by Henry James
At a tap on the desk from a fiddlestick, the partners in the dance fell into their places.
From Sentimental Education Vol 1 by Gustave Flaubert
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
