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.
I charge you in the Kings name, play the man, Which if you do not quickly, I begin with you, I'le make you dance, do you see your fiddlestick?
From The Little French Lawyer A Comedy by Francis Beaumont
The sheriff benignant; the turnkeys amused; the comic servant, obviously in liquor, brandishing his fiddlestick, and the orchestra playing "God save the Queen."
From M. or N. "Similia similibus curantur." by G.J. Whyte-Melville
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
"A few moments private fiddlestick," answered Mr. Middleton.
From Tempest and Sunshine by Mary Jane Holmes
Alphonse, however, from time to time kept his fiddlestick going, both to his own satisfaction, and that of his hearers.
From Paul Gerrard The Cabin Boy by William Henry Giles Kingston
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.
