fiddlestick

American  

[fid-l-stik] / ˈfɪd lˌstɪk /

noun

1. anything; a bit.

   I don't care a fiddlestick for what they say.

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fiddlestick British  

/ ˈfɪdəlˌstɪk /

noun

1. informal a violin bow

2. any meaningless or inconsequential thing; trifle

3. an expression of annoyance or disagreement

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Etymology

Origin of fiddlestick

First recorded in 1400–50, fiddlestick is from the late Middle English word fidillstyk. See fiddle, stick ¹

Example Sentences

His ears are perpetually drilling with a fiddlestick, and endures pleasures with less patience than other men do their pains.'

From The Wits and Beaux of Society Volume 1 by Wharton, Grace

Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the Goldsmith; "you forget that Lehsen doesn't care a fiddlestick about money.

From The Serapion Brethren. Vol. II by Hoffmann, Ernst Theordor Wilhelm

This done, Stringstriker played a lively march, broke through a window with his fiddlestick, and leapt out through the opening—whilst the whole dwarf brotherhood, waltzing, laughing, tumbling, in a countless crowd, prepared to follow him.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 56, No. 346, August, 1844 by Various

And this was the first time George Esmond Warrington, Esquire, was ever called a fiddlestick.

From The Virginians by Thackeray, William Makepeace

Laurentius, therefore, and the son of the brewer were declared enemies; and the inhabitants of Haarlem were divided into two parties, each ruled over with unlimited power by the fiddlestick of its chief.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 54, No. 334, August 1843 by Various