Category:Fiddle

Fid"dle, n. Etym: [OE. fidele, fithele, AS. fi; akin to D. vedel, OHG. fidula, G. fiedel, Icel. fi, and perh. to E. viol. Cf. Viol.]

1. (Mus.)

Defn: A stringed instrument of music played with a bow; a violin; a kit.

2. (Bot.)

Defn: A kind of dock (Rumex pulcher) with fiddle-shaped leaves; -- called also fiddle dock.

3. (Naut.)

Defn: A rack or frame of bars connected by strings, to keep table furniture in place on the cabin table in bad weather. Ham. Nav. Encyc. Fiddle beetle (Zoöl.), a Japanese carabid beetle (Damaster blaptoides); -- so called from the form of the body. -- 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. -- Fiddle bow, fiddlestick. -- Fiddle fish (Zoöl.), the angel fish. -- Fiddle head, an ornament on a ship's bow, curved like the volute or scroll at the head of a violin. -- Fiddle pattern, a form of the handles of spoons, forks, etc., somewhat like a violin. -- Scotch fiddle, the itch. (Low) -- To play first, or second, fiddle, to take a leading or a subordinate part. [Colloq.]

fiddle Fid"dle, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Fiddled; p. pr. & vb. n. Fiddling.]

1. To play on a fiddle. Themistocles. . . said he could not fiddle, but he could make a small town a great city. Bacon.

2. To keep the hands and fingers actively moving as a fiddler does; to move the hands and fingers restlessly or in busy idleness; to trifle. Talking, and fiddling with their hats and feathers. Pepys.

fiddle Fid"dle, v. t.

Defn: To play (a tune) on a fiddle.