fiddle

English

WOTD – 28 December 2009

A woman playing a fiddle.

John Brown's a-Hanging on a Sour Apple Tree

Etymology

From Middle English fithele, from Old English fiþele, of uncertain etymology. Some argue for Germanic variations of Latin vitula or vidula similar to those found in Old French viol and Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian viola; others argue for a separate origin within Germanic languages. Cognate with Old High German fidula (German Fiedel), Middle Dutch vedele (Dutch vedel, veel), Old Norse fiðla (Icelandic fiðla, Danish fiddel, Norwegian fela).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɪd(ə)l/
• enPR: fĭdʹl, IPA^(key): /ˈfɪdl̩/, [ˈfɪɾl̩]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

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• Hyphenation: fid‧dle
• Rhymes: -ɪdəl

Noun

fiddle (plural fiddles)

1. Synonym of violin, a small unfretted stringed instrument with four strings tuned (lowest to highest) G-D-A-E, usually held against the chin and played with a bow; the position of a violinist in a band; (usually proscribed) any stringed instrument, particularly those of the violin family.
   • c. 1275 Layamon, Brut, Cotton Caligula A.IX, l. 3490:

     ...Of harpe & of salteriun. of fiðele & of coriun...

   • 1864, William Sandys & al., The History of the Violin..., p. 38:

     The fiddle of these early times, however, was the viol and not our modern violin.

   • 1979, Charlie Daniels & al., "The Devil Went Down to Georgia":

     Johnny, rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard
     'Cause Hell's broke loose in Georgia an' the Devil deals the cards...

   When I play it like this, it's a fiddle; when I play it like that, it's a violin.

2. (figurative) Synonym of clown: an unserious person entertaining a group.

   • 1693, John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education, p. 208:

     You would not have your Son the Fiddle to every jovial Company.

3. (figurative) Unskillful or unartful behavior, particularly when showy and superficially pleasing.
   1. (chiefly US, dated slang) Synonym of scam, a fraud intended to cheat or impress others.
      • 1947 June 22, People, p. 4:

        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.'

      • 1959 Sept. 4, The Spectator, p. 297:

        I know you'll think this is one of my fiddles. At my last parish we raffled a horse and trap,... a clothes horse and a mousetrap.

   2. (slang) Synonym of 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.

4. (especially nautical) Any rail or device that prevents items from sliding off a table, stove, &c. in rough water.
   • 1962 September, P. Ransome-Wallis, “The Talgo trains of Spain”, in Modern Railways, page 188:

     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.

5. (UK slang, obsolete) Synonym of arrest warrant.
6. (UK slang, obsolete) Synonym of watchman's rattle.
7. (UK slang, obsolete) A trifling amount.

   Done at a fiddle.

8. Something resembling a violin in shape, particularly:
   1. (biology) A dock (Rumex pulcher) with leaves supposed to resemble the musical instrument.
   2. A long pole pulled by a draft animal to drag loose straw, hay, &c.
   3. A rack for drying pottery after glazing.

Usage notes

The distinction between violins and fiddles is typically contextual and cultural. The same instrument is considered a violin when playing classical music in formal settings, a fiddle when playing folk or country music, and variously described in other settings (such as jazz and rock) depending whichever term seems more appropriate to the speaker. Use of fiddle long predates the 16th century development of the modern violin but its use for other string instruments is almost obsolete; its use for other instruments of the violin family usually requires some explanatory adjective, such as bass fiddle.

Derived terms

• Apache fiddle
• bass fiddle
• bull 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-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
• fiddler crab
• fiddler's money
• fiddlery
• fiddles
• fiddle-scraping
• fiddle-shaped
• fiddlesome
• fiddlestick
• fiddlesticks
• fiddlestring
• fiddlewood
• fiddley
• fiddle yard
• fiddley-did
• fiddliness
• fiddlist
• fiddly
• fine as a fiddle
• first fiddle
• fit as a fiddle
• hang up one's fiddle
• hang up one's fiddle when one comes home
• Hardanger fiddle
• have a face as long as a fiddle
• have one's face made of a fiddle
• horsehead fiddle
• keyed fiddle
• lead fiddle
• phonofiddle
• play first fiddle
• play second fiddle
• play someone like a bass fiddle
• play someone like a fiddle
• play third fiddle
• Scotch fiddle
• second fiddle
• spike fiddle
• taro-patch fiddle
• there's many a good tune played on an old fiddle
• Welsh fiddle
• wheel fiddle

 

Descendants

• → Swahili: fidla

Translations

nautical: device or rail for keeping items on a surface while at sea

• Catalan: balancera f
• Finnish: reunalista
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Schiffsgeländer n
• Italian: parapetto (it) m

Verb

fiddle (third-person singular simple present fiddles, present participle fiddling, simple past and past participle fiddled)

1. To play the fiddle or violin, particularly in a folk or country style.
   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

     Themistocles […] said he could not fiddle, but yet he could make a small town a great city.

   ...fiddle while Rome burns...

2. Synonym of fidget or play, to idly amuse oneself, to act aimlessly, idly, or frivolously, particularly out of nervousness or restlessness.
   • 1530, John Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement, p. 549:

     Loke you fydell nat with your handes whan your maister speketh to you.

   • 1663 July 23 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “July 13th, 1663”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume III, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893, →OCLC:

     ...talking, and fiddling with their hats and feathers...

   Stop fiddling with your food. Either tell me what's wrong or just eat.

3. Synonym of cheat, to commit a fraud intended to impress or swindle others.

   Fred was sacked when the auditors caught him fiddling the books.

4. Synonym of tinker, to make small adjustments or improvements.

   I needed to fiddle with these settings to get the image to look right.

Derived terms

terms derived from fiddle (verb)

• fiddle about
• fiddle around
• fiddle away
• fiddlefart
• fiddlefuck
• fiddle the books

• fiddle while Rome burns
• fiddle with
• fiddler
• refiddle

Translations

to play the violin in a folk or informal way

• Czech: šumařit
• Dutch: fiedelen (nl)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: vinguttaa viulua (derogative); soittaa viulua
• Hungarian: hegedül (hu)

to play aimlessly

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 摸索 (zh) (mōsuǒ, mōsuo), 盤弄／盘弄 (zh), 盤弄／盘弄 (zh) (pánnòng)

• Czech: marnit
• Finnish: koheltaa (fi), haaskata (fi), räplätä (fi)
• French: tripoter (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: fummeln (de)
• Japanese: いじり回す (いじりまわす, ijirimawasu)
• Maori: rāwekeweke, rahurahu, raukoti
• Portuguese: vadiar (pt)
• Russian: тра́тить вре́мя по́пусту impf (trátitʹ vrémja pópustu), тереби́ть (ru) impf (terebítʹ) (to toy, to trifle with something), мять (ru) impf (mjatʹ)

Interjection

fiddle

1. (obsolete) Synonym of fiddlesticks.

   Oh, fiddle. I left my whip in the stable.

References

• “fiddle, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2021.
• “fiddle, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2021.
• “fiddle”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.