fiddle
UK /ˈfɪd(ə)l/ · US /ˈfɪdl̩/ noun, verb, interjection
Forms fiddles fiddling fiddled
- noun A violin, a small unfretted stringed instrument with four strings tuned (lowest to highest) G-D-A-E, usually held against the chin, shoulder, chest or on the upper thigh and played with a bow (see also usage notes below). “When I play it like this, it's a fiddle; when I play it like that, it's a violin.”
- noun (usually proscribed) Any of various other bowed stringed instruments, particularly those of the violin family when played non-classically.
- noun A violinist, or fiddler, in a band. “He is first fiddle in the band.”
- noun (biology) A dock (Rumex pulcher) with leaves supposed to resemble the musical instrument.
- noun A long pole pulled by a draft animal to drag loose straw, hay, etc.
- noun A rack for drying pottery after glazing.
- noun (figurative) A clown; an unserious person entertaining a group.
- noun (informal) A scam; a fraud or swindle. “There was some kind of fiddle going on at that company, and several of the directors were arrested.”
- verb (intransitive) To play the fiddle or violin, particularly in a folk or country style. “to fiddle while Rome burns”
- verb (informal, transitive) To fraudulently manipulate (records, accounts, etc.) in order to cheat or swindle. “Fred was sacked when the auditors caught him fiddling the books.”
- verb (intransitive) To fidget or play; to fuss; to idly amuse oneself, to act aimlessly, idly, or frivolously, particularly out of nervousness or restlessness; see also fiddle with. “Sit up straight and stop fiddling!”
- verb (informal, intransitive) Synonym of tinker (“to make small adjustments or improvements”); see also fiddle with. “I don't exactly know how to fix this lawnmower; I'm really just fiddling.”
- verb (intransitive, UK, slang, obsolete) To do odd jobs for money.
- interjection Synonym of fiddlesticks or euphemism for fuck. “Oh, fiddle. I left my whip in the stable.”
Synonyms
tinker fiddlesticks or euphemism for fuck violin shirk shrink from goldbrick toy diddle play tamper monkey
Etymology
From Middle English fithele, from Old English *fiþele, from Proto-West Germanic *fiþulā, from Proto-Germanic *fiþulǭ (“fiddle”), of uncertain etymology. Some contest that the Germanic terms are borrowed variations of Late Latin vitula (see viola); others contest that the word has a separate origin within Germanic languages, and still others believe that the Late Latin term for the stringed instrument is a borrowing from Germanic as a change of Latin t to Germanic þ is highly improbable, yet Germanic þ to Latin t is well documented (see troop, trousers, Teobaldo, etc.). Cognate with Old High German fidula (German Fiedel), Middle Dutch vedele (Dutch vedel, veel), Old Norse fiðla (Icelandic fiðla, Danish fiddel, Norwegian fela, Swedish fela).
The change from /ðl/ to /dl/ in modern English is regular; compare Bedlam, staddle, swaddle (in brothel, it was prevented; see that entry for discussion).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A stringed instrument of music played with a bow; a violin; a kit.
- noun A kind of dock (Rumex pulcher) with fiddle-shaped leaves; --called also fiddle dock.
- verb To play on a fiddle.
- verb To keep the hands and fingers actively moving as a fiddler does; to move the hands and fingers restlessy or in busy idleness; to trifle.
Etymology [OE. fidele, fithele, AS. fi; akin to D. vedel, OHG. fidula, G. fiedel, Icel. fi, and perh. to E. viol. Cf. Viol.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fiddle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details