Definition of "fiddle"

fiddle

/ˈfɪd(ə)l/

noun
plural fiddles
1. (usually proscribed) any of various bowed stringed instruments, particularly those of the violin family when played non-classically.
  Quotations
  ...Of harpe & of salteriun. of fiðele & of coriun...
  c. 1275, Layamon, Brut, Cotton Caligula A.IX, l. 3490
  The fiddle of these early times, however, was the viol and not our modern violin.
  1864, William Sandys et al., The History of the Violin...‎, page 38
  Johnny, rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard'Cause Hell's broke loose in Georgia an' the Devil deals the cards...
  1979, Charlie Daniels et al., The Devil Went Down to Georgia
2. (figurative) Synonym of clown: an unserious person entertaining a group.
  Quotations
  1693, John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education, page 208
3. (figurative) Unskillful or unartful behavior, particularly when showy and superficially pleasing.
  1. (chiefly US, dated slang) Synonym of scam, a fraud or swindle.
    Quotations
    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.'
    1947 June 22, People, p. 4
    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.
    1959 Sept. 4, The Spectator, p. 297
  2. (slang) Synonym of workaround, a quick and less than perfect solution for some flaw or problem.
4. (especially nautical) Any rail or device that prevents items from sliding off a table, stove, etc. in rough water.
  Quotations
  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.
  1962 September, P. Ransome-Wallis, “The Talgo trains of Spain”, in Modern Railways, page 188
5. (UK slang, obsolete) Synonym of arrest warrant.
6. (UK slang, obsolete) Synonym of watchman's rattle.
7. (UK slang, obsolete) A trifling amount.
8. Something resembling a violin in shape, particularly:
  1. (biology) A dock (Rumex pulcher) with leaves supposed to resemble the musical instrument.
  2. A long pole pulled by a draft animal to drag loose straw, hay, etc.
  3. A rack for drying pottery after glazing.
verb
third-person singular simple present fiddles, present participle fiddling, simple past and past participle fiddled
1. To play the fiddle or violin, particularly in a folk or country style.
  Quotations
  Themistocles […] said he could not fiddle, but yet he could make a small town a great city.
  1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret
2. To fidget or play; to idly amuse oneself, to act aimlessly, idly, or frivolously, particularly out of nervousness or restlessness.
  Quotations
  Loke you fydell nat with your handes whan your maister speketh to you.
  1530, John Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement, page 549
  […] talking, and fiddling with their hats and feathers […]
  1663 July 23 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “July 13th, 1663”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume III, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893
  Yossarian went along in Milo Minderbinder's speeding M & M staff car to police headquarters to meet a swarthy, untidy police commissioner with a narrow black mustache and unbuttoned tunic who was fiddling with a stout woman with warts and two chins when they entered his office and who greeted Milo with warm surprise and bowed and scraped in obscene servility as though Milo were some elegant marquis.
  1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Eternal City”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, page 425
3. (informal) To cheat or swindle; to commit fraud.
4. (informal) Synonym of tinker, to make small adjustments or improvements.
interjection
1. (obsolete) Synonym of fiddlesticks.

Definition of "fiddle"

fiddle

noun

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verb

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interjection