Fiddle /(fĭd"d'l)/

Fid·dle

Fiddle

n.
  1. A stringed instrument of music played with a bow; a violin; a kit. (Mus.)
  2. A kind of dock (Rumex pulcher) with fiddle-shaped leaves; -- called also fiddle dock. (Bot.)
  3. A rack or frame of bars connected by strings, to keep table furniture in place on the cabin table in bad weather. (Naut.)

Phrases & Compounds
Fiddle beetle
a Japanese carabid beetle (Damaster blaptoides); -- so called from the form of the body.
Fiddle block
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.
Fiddle bow
fiddlestick.
Fiddle fish
the angel fish.
Fiddle head
See fiddle head in the vocabulary.
Fiddle pattern
a form of the handles of spoons, forks, etc., somewhat like a violin.
Scotch fiddle
to take a leading or a subordinate part.

Fiddle

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.
  2. 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.
    Talking, and fiddling with their hats and feathers.

Fiddle

v. t.
  1. To play (a tune) on a fiddle.