fiddle
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fiddle
- /ˈfɪd(ə)l/ UK
- /ˈfɪdl̩/ US
- [ˈfɪɾl̩] US
Rhymes with -ɪdəl
Where it comes from
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).
noun fiddles
- 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). ...Of harpe & of salteriun. of fiðele & of coriun...
- Any of various other bowed stringed instruments, particularly those of the violin family when played non-classically. The fiddle of these early times, however, was the viol and not our modern violin.
- A violinist, or fiddler, in a band. He is first fiddle in the band.
- A dock (Rumex pulcher) with leaves supposed to resemble the musical instrument.
- A long pole pulled by a draft animal to drag loose straw, hay, etc.
- A rack for drying pottery after glazing.
- A clown; an unserious person entertaining a group. You would not have your Son the Fiddle to every jovial Company.
- A scam; a fraud or swindle. There was some kind of fiddle going on at that company, and several of the directors were arrested.
- A workaround; a quick and less than perfect solution for some flaw or problem. That parameter setting is just a fiddle to make the lighting look right.
- An act of tinkering, playing around, or fidgeting with something. Most people are quite careful about buying appliances. When looking at TVs for instance you might look for a particular brand, peruse the definition and colors on the screen, and maybe even have a fiddle with the remote.
- Any rail or device that prevents items from sliding off a table, stove, etc. in rough water. The meal is served on special trays which slot into the arms of airline-type seats of the passenger coaches. The trays have fiddles for each of the plates, cups and glasses, and the crockery is so well-designed that it is seldom any of the contents get spilled.
- An arrest warrant.
- A watchman's rattle.
- A trifling amount. Done at a fiddle.
verb fiddles · fiddling · fiddled
- To play the fiddle or violin, particularly in a folk or country style. to fiddle while Rome burns
- To fraudulently manipulate (records, accounts, etc.) in order to cheat or swindle. Fred was sacked when the auditors caught him fiddling the books.
- 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!
- 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.
- To do odd jobs for money. A cake-seller told me that a little while before I saw him a lad of twelve or so had consumed a shilling’s worth of cakes and pastry, as he had got a shilling by “fiddling;” not, be it understood, by the exercise of any musical skill, for “fiddling,” among the initiated, means the holding of horses,
interjection
- Synonym of fiddlesticks or euphemism for fuck. Oh, fiddle. I left my whip in the stable.
