English Explanatory Dictionary

fiddle

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  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).
  2. Any of various other bowed stringed instruments, particularly those of the violin family when played non-classically.
  3. A violinist, or fiddler, in a band.
  4. Something resembling a violin, or fiddle, in shape
  5. A dock (Rumex pulcher) with leaves supposed to resemble the musical instrument.
  6. A long pole pulled by a draft animal to drag loose straw, hay, etc.
  7. A rack for drying pottery after glazing.
  8. A clown; an unserious person entertaining a group.
  9. Unskillful or unartful behavior, particularly when showy and superficially pleasing.
  10. A scam; a fraud or swindle.
  11. A workaround; a quick and less than perfect solution for some flaw or problem.
  12. An act of tinkering, playing around, or fidgeting with something.
verb
  1. To play the fiddle or violin, particularly in a folk or country style.
  2. To fraudulently manipulate (records, accounts, etc.) in order to cheat or swindle.
  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.
  4. Synonym of tinker (“to make small adjustments or improvements”); see also fiddle with.
  5. To do odd jobs for money.
intj
  1. Synonym of fiddlesticks or euphemism for fuck.

Pronunciation

/ˈfɪd(ə)l/ fĭdʹl /ˈfɪdl̩/ [ˈfɪɾl̩] en-us-fiddle.ogg en-au-fiddle.ogg

Word forms

fiddle fiddles fiddling fiddled

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).

Synonyms

tinker fiddlesticks or euphemism for fuck

Derived words

Apache fiddle bass fiddle bull fiddle face as long as a fiddle face like a fiddle face made of a fiddle fiddleback fiddleback wood fiddle beetle fiddle block fiddle-boat fiddle-bow fiddle-brained fiddle brake fiddle-case fiddlecome fiddle-come-faddle fiddledeedee fiddle-dock fiddle-drill fiddle-fabricant fiddle face fiddle-faced fiddle factor fiddle-faddle fiddle-fancier fiddle-fish fiddle-flanked fiddle-footed fiddle-grass fiddlehead fiddle-holder fiddle idol fiddleist fiddleleaf fiddle-lipped fiddle-lore fiddle-lover fiddle-make fiddle-maker fiddle-making fiddlement fiddleneck fiddle-pattern fiddle-patterned fiddler fiddler crab fiddler's money fiddlery fiddles fiddle-scraping fiddle-shaped fiddlesome fiddlestick fiddlesticks fiddlestring fiddlewood fiddley fiddle yard fiddley-did
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