Word.ws English Dictionary

paid the fiddler

paid the fiddler is the simple past and past participle of pay the fiddler.

Meaning of pay the fiddler

Verb

pay the fiddler (third-person singular simple present pays the fiddler, present participle paying the fiddler, simple past and past participle paid the fiddler)

  1. (idiomatic) To face the consequences of one's actions.
    • The three-day party had been a lot of fun, but now it was time to pay the fiddler.
  2. (idiomatic) To contribute in order to participate.
    • If you want to dance, you’ve got to pay the fiddler

Questions about paid the fiddler

What is paid the fiddler the simple past and past participle of?
Paid the fiddler is the simple past and past participle of pay the fiddler.

Words near paid the fiddler in the dictionary

  1. paid out
  2. paid overs
  3. paid respect
  4. paid someone's way
  5. paid the bills
  6. paid the fiddler
  7. paid the freight
  8. paid the penalty
  9. paid the piper
  10. paid the price
  11. paid the rent

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: paid the fiddler (page history and authors); pay the fiddler (page history and authors). 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.

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