fiddle
Syllables: fid·dleUK/ˈfɪd(ə)l//ˈfɪdl̩/
fiddle noun: 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).
Noun
fiddle (plural 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...c. 1275, Layamon, Brut, Cotton Caligula A.IX, l. 3490
- 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
- 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.1864, William Sandys et al., The History of the Violin..., page 38
- 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.1693, John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education, page 208
- 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.'1947 June 22, People, p. 4
- 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.1998, Dean Ormandy, Conquering Computers, page 74
- 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.1962 September, P. Ransome-Wallis, “The Talgo trains of Spain”, in Modern Railways, page 188
- An arrest warrant.
- A watchman's rattle.
- A trifling amount.
- Done at a fiddle.
Verb
fiddle (third-person singular simple present fiddles, present participle fiddling, simple past and past participle fiddled)
- 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.1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC
- 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!
- Loke you fydell nat with your handes whan your maister speketh to you.1530, John Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement, page 549
- 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.
- Synonyms:
- tinker
- 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...1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861
Interjection
- Synonym of fiddlesticks or euphemism for fuck.
- Oh, fiddle. I left my whip in the stable.
- Synonyms:
- fiddlesticks or euphemism for fuck
fiddle meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
fiddle in Hindi
- फिडल
fiddle in Tamil
- நரம்பிசைக் கருவி, யாழ், ஃபிடில்
fiddle in Marathi
- फिडल
fiddle in Urdu
- کمانچہ, سارنگی, وائیلن
More languagesFewer languages
- fiddle in Bengali
- ফিডল
- fiddle in Malayalam
- ചെറിയ വയലിൻ, കിന്നരം, ഫിഡിൽ
- fiddle in Kannada
- ಪಿಟೀಲು ವಾದ್ಯ, ಮೋಸ, ವಂಚನೆ, ದಗಾ
- fiddle in Punjabi
- ਚਕਾਰਾ cakārā
- fiddle in Gujarati
- ફિડલ, ફીડલ
- fiddle in Odia
- ଫିଡଲ
Examples of fiddle in a sentence
- When I play it like this, it's a fiddle; when I play it like that, it's a violin.
- I know you'll think this is one of my fiddles.1959 Sept. 4, The Spectator, p. 297
Synonyms of fiddle
- tinker
- fiddlesticks or euphemism for fuck
Forms of fiddle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | fiddles |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | fiddles |
| present participle | fiddling |
| past participle | fiddled |
| past | fiddled |
Origin of fiddle
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).
Words formed from fiddle
- fiddle about
- fiddle around
- fiddle away
- fiddlefart
- fiddlefuck
- fiddler
- fiddle the books
- fiddle while Rome burns
- fiddle with
- refiddle
- twiddle
- 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 crab
- fiddler's money
- fiddlery
- fiddles
Phrases with fiddle
- fiddle yard
- lead fiddle
- fiddle faces
- fiddle yards
- first fiddle
- keyed fiddle
- spike fiddle
- wheel fiddle
- fiddle blocks
- guitar fiddle
- on the fiddle
- Scotch fiddle
30 more phrasesFewer phrases
- second fiddle
- fiddle beetles
- fit as a fiddle
- Hardanger fiddle
- horsehead fiddle
- horse head fiddle
- horse-head fiddle
- play first fiddle
- taro-patch fiddle
- troubadour fiddle
- play second fiddle
- plays first fiddle
- played first fiddle
- plays second fiddle
- hang up one's fiddle
- hung up one's fiddle
- played second fiddle
- playing first fiddle
- hangs up one's fiddle
- playing second fiddle
- hanging up one's fiddle
- play someone like a fiddle
- plays someone like a fiddle
- played someone like a fiddle
- playing someone like a fiddle
- play someone like a bass fiddle
- plays someone like a bass fiddle
- played someone like a bass fiddle
- playing someone like a bass fiddle
- there's many a good tune played on an old fiddle
Words that rhyme with fiddle
Questions about fiddle
- What does fiddle mean?
- Fiddle means 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).
- What is fiddle in Hindi?
- Fiddle in Hindi is फिडल. See Fiddle meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use fiddle in a sentence?
- When I play it like this, it's a fiddle; when I play it like that, it's a violin.
- What part of speech is fiddle?
- Fiddle can be a noun, a verb or an interjection.
- How do you pronounce fiddle?
- Fiddle is pronounced /ˈfɪd(ə)l/ (UK).
- What is the plural of fiddle?
- The plural of fiddle is fiddles.
Words near fiddle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fiddle (page history and authors); fiddle (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); fiddle (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fiddle (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); fiddle (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fiddle (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); fiddle (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fiddle (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਚਕਾਰਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); fiddle (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); fiddle (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-fiddle.ogg, en-au-fiddle.ogg.
Cite this entry: “fiddle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fiddle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.