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
I don't think the mercantile business is my forte, father," said I. "Your fort!" replied the old gentleman; "fiddlesticks!
From The Blunders of a Bashful Man by Victor, Metta Victoria Fuller
As this bordered on sentiment, abhorred of realism, Severne muttered something that sounded like "fiddlesticks."
From Blazed Trail Stories and Stories of the Wild Life by White, Stewart Edward
Simply to say you're going to make your fortune is all fiddlesticks and folly.
From Our Home in the Silver West A Story of Struggle and Adventure by Stables, Gordon
How on the other hand not represent it either—without putting into play mere fiddlesticks?
From The Letters of Henry James, Vol. II by James, Henry
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.
