fidget
/ˈfɪd͡ʒ.ɪt/ verb, noun
Forms fidgets fidgeting fidgetting fidgeted fidgetted
- verb (intransitive) To wiggle or twitch; to move the body, especially the fingers, around nervously or idly.
- verb (transitive) To cause to fidget; to make uneasy.
- noun (countable) A nervous wriggling or twitching motion.
- noun (informal, countable) A person who fidgets, especially habitually.
- noun (countable) An object, such as a tool or toy, intended to be fidgeted with.
Synonyms
Etymology
From fidge (“to fidget”) + *-et (frequentative ending), possibly from Middle English *-ten, from Old English -ettan.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To move uneasily one way and the other; to move irregularly, or by fits and starts. Moore.
- noun Uneasiness; restlessness. Cowper.
- noun pl.
Etymology [From Fidge; cf. OE. fiken to fidget, to flatter, Icel. fika to hasten, Sw. fika to hunt after, AS. befician to deceive. Cf. Fickle.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fidget”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details