Fiddle

Fid′dle (fĭd′d'l), n. [OE. fidele, fithele, AS. fiðele; akin to D. vedel, OHG. fidula, G. fiedel, Icel. fiðla, and perh. to E. viol. Cf. Viol.] 1. (Mus.) A stringed instrument of music played with a bow; a violin; a kit.

2. (Bot.) A kind of dock (Rumex pulcher) with fiddle-shaped leaves; — called also fiddle dock.

3. (Naut.) 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.]

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 restlessy or in busy idleness; to trifle.

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

Fid′dle (fĭd′d'l), v. t. To play (a tune) on a fiddle.