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fiddlestick

[fid-l-stik]
noun
  1. anything; a bit: I don't care a fiddlestick for what they say.
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Origin of fiddlestick

First recorded in 1400–50, fiddlestick is from the late Middle English word fidillstyk. See fiddle, stick1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for fiddlestick

Historical Examples of fiddlestick

  • Truly the "fiddlestick" is a magic wand in more senses than one.

    The Bow, Its History, Manufacture and Use

    Henry Saint-George

  • If you've all the tense strings you may take life for your fiddlestick.

    The Tragic Muse

    Henry James

  • Didn't she, rather, do you the honor to say, 'A fiddlestick for your phrases!

    The American

    Henry James

  • "Should be a fiddlestick, my dear," the old Colonel answered.

    The Virginians

    William Makepeace Thackeray

  • And though I lend you my very rod and tacklings, yet you have not my fiddlestick, that is, the skill wherewith I guide it.

British Dictionary definitions for fiddlestick

fiddlestick

noun
  1. informal a violin bow
  2. any meaningless or inconsequential thing; trifle
  3. fiddlesticks! an expression of annoyance or disagreement
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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 fiddlestick

n.

usually fiddlesticks; 15c., originally "the bow of a fiddle," from fiddle (n.) and stick (n.). Meaning "nonsense" is from 1620s.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper