fiddlesticks
Americaninterjection
Etymology
Origin of fiddlesticks
First recorded in 1600–10; plural of fiddlestick or shortening of fiddlestick’s end (i.e., fiddlesticks end at a point, which is nothing)
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.
Nothing; the end of the ancient fiddlesticks ending in a point; hence metaphorically used to express a thing terminating in nothing.
From 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Grose, Francis
Well, sir, that pig just nat’erly gorged itself and directly it was tipsy as fiddlesticks.
From Blue Ridge Country by Caldwell, Erskine
Labor of love, fiddlesticks," said the deacon; "Labor of foolishness.
From That Printer of Udell's by Wright, Harold Bell
That was all fiddlesticks, 'cause Cap'n Az never went to church except for the six weeks after he was married, and pretty scattern' 'long the last three of them.
From Fair Harbor by Lincoln, Joseph Crosby
It's all fiddlesticks about not leaving her mother!
From Hilda Lessways by Bennett, Arnold
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.
