| Part of Speech | Definition | |
| Verb | 1. Of Fiddle.[Websters]
2. To be humoured. [Eve - graph theoretic] 3. To have tricked, gagged, larked, swindled or humbugged. [Eve - graph theoretic] 4. To be pouched or podded. [Eve - graph theoretic] 5. To have fudged or trashed. [Eve - graph theoretic] 6. To be adulterated. [Eve - graph theoretic] 7. To have hoaxed or fibbed. [Eve - graph theoretic] 8. To be chiselled or short-changed. [Eve - graph theoretic] 9. To have cheated, gouged, intrigued, deceived or scammed. [Eve - graph theoretic] 10. To be rooked.[Eve - graph theoretic] | |
| Verb Past Tense | 1. Past tense conjugation of the verb fiddle.[Eve - graph theoretic] | |
| Verb Base (fiddle) | 1. Avoid (one's assigned duties).[Wordnet]. 2. Commit fraud and steal from one's employer.[Wordnet]. 3. Play the violin or fiddle.[Wordnet]. 4. Play on a violin; "Zuckerman fiddled that song very nicely".[Wordnet]. 5. Manipulate manually or in one's mind or imagination; "Don't fiddle with the screws".[Wordnet]. 6. Play around with or alter or falsify, usually secretively or dishonestly; "The reporter fiddle with the facts".[Wordnet]. 7. Try to fix or mend; "She always fiddles with her van on the weekend".[Wordnet]. 8. To play on a fiddle.[Websters]. 9. To keep the hands and fingers actively moving as a fiddler does; to move the hands and fingers restlessy or in busy idleness; to trifle.[Websters]. 10. To play (a tune) on a fiddle.[Websters]. 11. Base verb from the following inflections: fiddling, fiddled, fiddles, fiddler, fiddlers, fiddlingly and fiddledly.[Eve - graph theoretic] | |
| Adjective | 1. Being pouched.
[Eve - graph theoretic] 2. Being adulterated. [Eve - graph theoretic] 3. Being debased or garbled. [Eve - graph theoretic] 4. Being fabled or storied.[Eve - graph theoretic] | |
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), compiled from various sources, under license. | Top | |
Date "FIDDLED" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1200. (references) |
Specialty Definition: fiddle
| Domain | Definition | ||
| Satire | FIDDLE, n. An instrument to tickle human ears by friction of a horse's tail on the entrails of a cat. To Rome said Nero: "If to smoke you turn I shall not cease to fiddle while you burn." To Nero Rome replied: "Pray do your worst, 'Tis my excuse that you were fiddling first." Orm Pludge Source: Devil's Dictionary | ||
| Noah Webster | 1: [Noun] A stringed instrument of music; a violin.. | 2: [Verb] To play on a fiddle or violin. Themistocles said he could not fiddle, but he could make a small town a great city. It is said that Nero fiddled, when Rome was in flames.. | 3: [Verb] To trifle; to shift the hands often and do nothing, like a fellow that plays on a fiddle. Good cooks cannot abide what they call fiddling work.. Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary. |
| Dream Interpretation | To dream of a fiddle, foretells harmony in the home and many joyful occasions abroad. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... | ||
| Library Science | 1: One of the primary melodic instruments in traditional country music, the fiddle is, in its construction, essentially the same as the violin. However, the fiddle typically lacks the standard tuning of the violin. Fiddlers, many of whom make their own instruments, decide on the tuning and pitch according to the music they play. The manner of holding the instrument depends, as well, on the music played, and to some extent, local custom. Some fiddlers hold the instrument at the shoulder as classical violinists do, while others play with the instrument pointed upwards or downwards at various angles. (references) | 2: The violin; a four-stringed instrument played with a bow. The terms "fiddle" and "violin" are used interchangeably by fiddlers like Henry Reed, though they and other Americans sometimes use "violin" as the more formal and "fiddle" as the more informal word. For Henry Reed, "fiddle" and "violin" both refer to the modern violin, the basic design of which was developed in Italy in the seventeenth century and had spread throughout Europe and the Americas by the later eighteenth century. There is a tradition of locally crafted violins in the Appalachians, but many of the instruments current in the region were manufactured elsewhere in the United States or Europe. Other kinds and shapes of fiddle, including "cigarbox fiddles" and other simple children's instruments, are found here and there in the Appalachians but are thought of as children's toys, training instruments, or novelties. (references) | |
| Literature | 1: Fiddle (Latin, fidis or fides). He was first fiddle. Chief man, the most distinguished of the company. 2: The Scotch fiddle or Caledonian Cremona. The itch. As fiddlers scratch with a bow the strings of a fiddle, so persons suffering from skin-irritation keep scratching the part irritated. 3: To play second fiddle. To take a subordinate part. The allusion is to the leader of concerts, who leads with a fiddle. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. | ||
| Wiktionary | 1: [Noun] (music) The violin when played in any of various traditional styles, as opposed to classical violin. When I play it like this, it's a fiddle; when I play it like that, it's a violin. (references) | 2: [Noun] (nautical) On board a ship or boat, a rail or batten around the edge of a table or stove to prevent objects falling off at sea. (Also fiddle rail). (references) | 3: [Noun] An adjustment intended to cover up a basic flaw. That parameter setting is just a fiddle to make the lighting look right. (references) | 4: [Noun] fraud. (references) | 5: [Verb] (music) To play traditional tunes on a violin using the aforementioned styles. (references) | 6: [Verb] To adjust in order to cover a basic flaw or fraud etc. I needed to fiddle the lighting parameters to get the image to look right. Fred was sacked when the auditors caught him fiddling the books. (references) | 7: [Verb] To play aimlessly. You're fiddling your life away. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | Top | ||
Common Expressions: fiddle
| Expressions | Definition | ||
| A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (Or My Salute to Bob Wills) | A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (Or My Salute to Bob Wills) is a 1970 album by Merle Haggard. (references) | ||
| Bass fiddle | Largest and lowest member of the violin family. Source: Wordnet 3.0 Copyright © 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. | ||
| Bull fiddle | Largest and lowest member of the violin family. Source: Wordnet 3.0 Copyright © 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. | ||
| Cat & Fiddle Arcade | The Cat & Fiddle Arcade is one Of 2 Main Shopping Centres operating within the Hobart CBD. (references) | ||
| Cat and Fiddle Inn | The Cat and Fiddle Inn is the second highest inn or public house in England (behind the Tan Hill Inn). The inn is situated on the eastern fringes of Cheshire in the Peak District National Park on the A537 road just west of the Derbyshire/Cheshire county boundary. It is at an elevation of about 1690ft (515m) above sea level. (references) | ||
| Eunuch's fiddle | A eunuch's fiddle was an early (historic) form of vibrator before batteries. It consists of an egg shaped object inserted into the anus, a string attached to it, and a bow to make the string vibrate like the string of a violin. (references) | ||
| Fiddle beetle | (Zo["o]l.), a Japanese carabid beetle (Damaster blaptoides); -- so called from the form of the body. Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. | ||
| Fiddle block | (Naut.), a long tackle block having two sheaves of different diameters in the same plane, instead of side by side as in a common double block. --Knight. Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. | ||
| Fiddle bow | Fiddlestick. Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. | ||
| Fiddle fish | (Zo["o]l.), the angel fish. Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. | ||
| Fiddle head | An ornament on a ship's bow, curved like the volute or scroll at the head of a violin. Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. | ||
| Fiddle pattern | A form of the handles of spoons, forks, etc., somewhat like a violin. Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. | ||
| Fiddle with | Manipulate, as in a nervous or unconscious manner. Source: Wordnet 3.0 Copyright © 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. | ||
| Guitar fiddle | The Guitar fiddle or Troubadour Fiddle is a modern name bestowed retrospectively upon certain precursors of the violin possessing characteristics of both guitar and fiddle. The name guitar fiddle is intended to emphasize the fact that the instrument in the shape of the guitar, which during the middle ages represented the most perfect principle of construction for stringed instruments with necks, adopted at a certain period the use of the bow from instruments of a less perfect type, the rebab and its hybrids. (references) | ||
| Scotch fiddle | The itch. [Low] --Sir W. Scott. Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. | ||
| Second fiddle | 1: A secondary role or function; "he hated to play second fiddle to anyone". Source: Wordnet 3.0 Copyright © 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. | ||
| 2: Someone who serves in a subordinate capacity or plays a secondary role. Source: Wordnet 3.0 Copyright © 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. | |||
| Straw fiddle | 2. An instrument to determine the vibrative properties of different kinds of wood. --Knight. Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | Top | ||
Specialty Expressions: fiddle
| Expressions | Domain | Definition | |
| Calf-skin fiddle | Slang in 1811 | CALF-SKIN FIDDLE. A drum. To smack calf's skin; to kiss the book in taking an oath. It is held by the St. Giles's casuists, that by kissing one's thumb instead of smacking calf's skin, the guilt of taking a false oath is avoided. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. | |
| Cat and Fiddle | Literature | 1: A public-house sign, is a corruption of Caton le fidele, meaning Caton, Governor of Calais. 2: (To). To fiddle about a thing means to "play" business. To fiddle with one's fingers is to move them about as a fiddler moves his fingers up and down the fiddle-strings. 3: "Mere trifling, or unprofitable fiddling about nothing." - Barrow: Sermons, vol.i. sermon 7. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. | |
| FIDDLE FADDLE | Slang in 1811 | FIDDLE FADDLE. Trifling discourse, nonsense. A mere fiddle faddle fellow; a trifier. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. | |
| Fiddle string | Industry | A particular form of tight end (defect) or tight pick (defect). Source: European Union. (references) | |
| Fiddle tunes | Library Science | Tunes played on and in many cases designed for the fiddle. Most fiddle tunes are dance tunes, but some are played purely for auditory appreciation, and some are slower airs adapted from vocal melodies. (references) | |
| Hardanger fiddle | Library Science | "A small [Norwegian] violin with four sympathetic strings." Source: "A Study of California Folk Music," pp. 8-11. (references) | |
| SCOTCH FIDDLE | Slang in 1811 | 1: SCOTCH FIDDLE. The itch. 2: WELCH FIDDLE. The itch. See SCOTCH FIDDLE. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | Top | ||
