fiddler

See also: Fiddler

English

Etymology

From Middle English fiþelere, from Old English fiþelere, from fiþele. Equivalent to fiddle +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɪdələ(ɹ)/, /ˈfɪdlə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

Noun

fiddler (plural fiddlers)

1. One who plays the fiddle.
2. One who fiddles; a cheat.
   • 2005, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, The drama of my life (in The Independent online, [1])

     We were the self-controlled, cautious, nifty merchants, decorous fiddlers of accounts, hoarders of wealth, excellent bribers, family and community creatures governed by manners.

3. A burrowing crab of the genus Gelasimus, of many species. The male has one claw very much enlarged, and often holds it in a position similar to that in which a musician holds a fiddle.
4. The common European sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos); so called because it habitually wags its tail up and down resembling the back and forth movement of a fiddler.
5. A large species of cicada, Macrotristria angularis, of eastern Australia; cherry nose.
6. (UK, slang, obsolete) A coin of little value: a sixpence or a farthing.

Synonyms

• fiddlist, fiddleist (both dated)

Derived terms

Terms derived from fiddler

• bass fiddler
• bull fiddler
• fiddler crab
• Fiddler on the Roof

• Fiddler's Ferry
• kiddie fiddler
• pay the fiddler

Translations

one who plays the fiddle

• Bulgarian: цигулар m (cigular)
• Czech: houslista (cs) m
• Danish: spillemand
• Dutch: vedelaar (nl) m, speelman (nl) m
• Finnish: viulisti (fi)
• Georgian: მევიოლინე (mevioline)
• German: Geiger (de) m
• Hungarian: hegedűs (hu)
• Irish: fidléir m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: spellemann m, spillemann m

  Nynorsk: spelemann m

• Ottoman Turkish: كامنچه‌جی (kemençeci)
• Polish: skrzypek (pl) m
• Portuguese: rabequista m or f, rabequeiro m
• Russian: скрипа́ч (ru) m (skripáč)
• Scottish Gaelic: fìdhlear m
• Swedish: fiolspelman c, spelman (sv) c

Anagrams

• Friddle