Word.ws English Dictionary

paying the fiddler

paying the fiddler is the present participle and gerund 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 paying the fiddler

What is paying the fiddler the present participle and gerund of?
Paying the fiddler is the present participle and gerund of pay the fiddler.

Words near paying the fiddler in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: paying 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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