fiddle

noun

1. 1

   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...

   Johnny, rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard 'Cause Hell's broke loose in Georgia an' the Devil deals the cards...

   When I play it like this, it's a fiddle; when I play it like that, it's a violin.

2. 2

   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.

3. 3

   A violinist, or fiddler, in a band.

   He is first fiddle in the band.

4. 4

   Something resembling a violin, or fiddle, in shape A dock (Rumex pulcher) with leaves supposed to resemble the musical instrument.

5. 5

   Something resembling a violin, or fiddle, in shape A long pole pulled by a draft animal to drag loose straw, hay, etc.

6. 6

   Something resembling a violin, or fiddle, in shape A rack for drying pottery after glazing.

7. 7

   figurativeA clown; an unserious person entertaining a group.

   You would not have your Son the Fiddle to every jovial Company.

8. 8

   figurativeUnskillful or unartful behavior, particularly when showy and superficially pleasing. A scam; a fraud or swindle.

   There was some kind of fiddle going on at that company, and several of the directors were arrested.

   Says Bevin: 'I want peace... and we shan't get it unless we deal with one another as friends. I will be a party to no fiddles.'

   I know you'll think this is one of my fiddles. At my last parish we raffled a horse and trap,... a clothes horse and a mousetrap.

9. 9

   figurativeUnskillful or unartful behavior, particularly when showy and superficially pleasing. 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.

10. 10

    figurativeUnskillful or unartful behavior, particularly when showy and superficially pleasing. 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.

11. 11

    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.

12. 12

    obsoleteAn arrest warrant.

13. 13

    obsoleteA watchman's rattle.

14. 14

    obsoleteA trifling amount.

    Done at a fiddle.

verb

1. 1

   To play the fiddle or violin, particularly in a folk or country style.

   to fiddle while Rome burns

   Themistocles […] said he could not fiddle, but yet he could make a small town a great city.

2. 2

   informalTo fraudulently manipulate (records, accounts, etc.) in order to cheat or swindle.

   Fred was sacked when the auditors caught him fiddling the books.

3. 3

   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!

   Loke you fydell nat with your handes whan your maister speketh to you.

   […] talking, and fiddling with their hats and feathers […]

4. 4

   informalSynonym 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.

5. 5

   obsoleteTo 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, or the performing of any odd jobs.

interjection

1. 1

   Synonym of fiddlesticks or euphemism for fuck.

   Oh, fiddle. I left my whip in the stable.

Forms

plural

fiddles

past tense

fiddled

past participle

fiddled

present participle

fiddling

third person singular

fiddles