Fiddle

Definition: Fiddle

Fiddle

Noun

1. Bowed stringed instrument that is the highest member of the violin family; this instrument has four strings and a hollow body and an unfretted fingerboard and is played with a bow.

Verb

1. Play the violin or fiddle.

2. Manipulate manually or in one's mind or imagination; "She played nervously with her wedding ring"; "Don't fiddle with the screws"; "He played with the idea of running for the Senate:.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "fiddle" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1200. (references)

Satire

Dream Interpretation

Literature

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Fiddle

Authority

Have the upper hand, get the upper hand, have the whip, get the whip; gain a hold upon, preponderate, dominate, rule the roost; boss; override, overrule, overawe; lord it over, hold in hand, keep under, make a puppet of, lead by the nose, turn round one's little finger, bend to one's will, hold one's own, wear the breeches; have the ball at one's feet, have it all one's own way, have the game in one's own hand, have on the hip, have under one's thumb; be master of the situation; take the lead, play first fiddle, set the fashion; give the law to; carry with a high hand; lay down the law; "ride in the whirlwind and direct the storm"; rule with a rod of iron; (severity).

Disrepute

Play second fiddle; lose caste; pale one's ineffectual fire; recede into the shade; fall from one's high estate; keep in the background; (modesty); be conscious of disgrace; (humility); look blue, look foolish, look like a fool; cut a poor figure, cut a sorry figure; laugh on the wrong side of the mouth; make a sorry face, go away with a flea in. one's ear, slink away.

End

Verb: end, close, finish, terminate, conclude, be all over; expire; die; come-, draw- to a -close; Noun: have run its course; run out, pass away. bring to an -end; Noun: put an end to, make an end of; determine; get through; achieve; (complete); stop; (make to cease); shut up shop; hang up one's fiddle.

Importance

Verb: be important; Adjective:, be somebody, be something; import, signify, matter, boot, be an object; carry weight; (influence); make a figure; (repute); be in the ascendant, come to the front, lead the way, take the lead, play first fiddle, throw all else into the shade; lie at the root of; deserve notice, merit notice, be worthy of notice, be worthy of regard, be worthy of consideration.

Top sawyer, first fiddle, prima donna, chief; triton among the minnows; " it".

Inferiority

Become smaller, render smaller; (decrease), (contract); hide its diminished head, retire into the shade, yield the palm, play second fiddle, be upstaged, take a back seat.

Obedience

Follow the lead of, follow to the world's end; serve; play second fiddle.

Proficient

Noun: proficient, expert, adept, dab; dabster, crackerjack; connoisseur; (scholar); master, master hand; prima donna, first fiddle, top gun, chef de cuisine, top sawyer; protagonist; past master; mahatma.

Repute

Live, flourish, glitter, flaunt, gain honor, acquire honor; Noun: play first fiddle; (be of importance), bear the palm, bear the bell; lead the way; take precedence, take the wall of; gain laurels, win laurels, gain spurs, gain golden opinions; (approbation); take one's degree, pass one's examination.

Chief; (master); first fiddle; (proficient); cynosure, mirror; flower, pink, pearl; paragon; (perfection); choice and master spirits of the age; elite; star,.sun, constellation, galaxy. ornament, honor, feather in one's cap, halo, aureole, nimbus; halo of glory, blaze of glory, blushing honors; laurels; (trophy).

Subjection

Verb: be subject; Adjective: be at the mercy of, lie at the mercy of; depend upon, lean upon, hang upon; fall a prey to, fall under; play second fiddle.

Superiority

Verb: be superior; Adjective: exceed, excel, transcend; outdo, outbalance, outweigh, outrank, outrival, out-Herod; pass, surpass, get ahead of; over-top, override, overpass, overbalance, overweigh, overmatch; top, o'ertop, cap, beat, cut out; beat hollow; outstrip; eclipse, throw into the shade, take the shine out of, outshine, put one's nose out of joint; have the upper hand, have the whip hand of, have the advantage; turn the scale, kick the beam; play first fiddle; (importance); preponderate, predominate, prevail; precede, take precedence, come first; come to a head, culminate; beat; all others, bear the palm; break the record; take the cake.

Crosswords: Fiddle

I'm your wicked Uncle Ernie; I'm glad you won't see or hear me, As I fiddle about, fiddle about, fiddle about (Tommy; writing credit: Pete Townshend; Ken Russell)

I cannot fiddle but I can make a great state of a small city (Lawrence of Arabia; writing credit: T.E. Lawrence; Robert Bolt)

And he laid that golden fiddle ("The Devil Went Down to Georgia"; performing artist: Charlie Daniels Band)

Hey diddle diddle, I am playin' my fiddle, (Roll Over Beethoven; performing artist: Chuck Berry)

I pull out my fiddle and I rosin up the bow (Thank God I’m A Country Boy; performing artist: John Denver)

Fiddle with your rosaries, (The Vatican Rag; performing artist: Tom Lehrer)

Second Fiddle to a Steel Guitar (1965)

On the Fiddle (1961)

Fiddle Faddle (1960)

Second Fiddle (1957)

The Fella with the Fiddle (1937)

Cajun Fiddle (performing artist: Jimmy Sturr)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• Fiddle Primer (reference)

  (more book examples)

Theater & Movies

• Beginning Country Bluegrass Fiddle with Dan Huckabee (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music

• Fit as a Fiddle (reference)

• Folks, He Sure Do Pull Some Bow! Vintage Fiddle Music 1927-1935: Blues, Jazz, Stomps, Shuffles & Rags (reference)

• Legacy of the Scottish Fiddle, Vol. 1: Classic Tunes (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Phillip Earring on Fiddle Face, Cheyenne River Annual Rodeo. Credit: Library of Congress.

Roy Acuff, half-length portrait, facing front, holding fiddle. Credit: Library of Congress.

Lon Allen and his son playing their fiddles to the tune of "The Arkansas Traveler." The fiddle played by the son was made by him. Near Iron River, Michigan. Credit: Library of Congress.

R.J. Boyd, fiddle, and Millard Garrett, banjo; of Sandy Marsh, N.C. at Mountain Music Festival, Asheville, North Carolina. Credit: Library of Congress.

Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Asa Helton with fiddle, Fiddling Bill Hensley playing fiddle, at the Mountain Music Festival, Asheville, North Carolina. Credit: Library of Congress.

Members of the Bog Trotters Band seated playing or holding instruments, Galax, Va. Includes band leader, Doc Davis, with autoharp; Uncle Alex Dunford with fiddle; Crockett Ward with fiddle; Wade Ward with banjo; Fields Ward with guitar. Credit: Library of Congress.

R. J. Boyd playing fiddle; and Millard Garrett playing banjo, both from Sandy Mush, N.C., at the Mountain Music Festival, Asheville, North Carolina. Credit: Library of Congress.

Sunny Side Boys, man with guitar on the left and the young fiddle player on the right, at the Mountain Music Festival, Asheville, North Carolina. Credit: Library of Congress.

C. L. Taylor, with back to picture playing banjo and Fiddlin' Bill Hensley with fiddle, at the Mountain Music Festival, Asheville, North Carolina. Credit: Library of Congress.

Horace Foreman, Morse, Louisiana, his son is beating a bass(?) obligato on the fiddle strings with two sticks. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

These three in the evening, harmonica and fiddle and guitar

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "fiddle": bass fiddle ♦ be fit as a fiddle ♦ be on the fiddle ♦ bull fiddle ♦ fiddle about ♦ fiddle around ♦ fiddle away ♦ Fiddle beetle ♦ Fiddle block ♦ Fiddle bow ♦ fiddle dock ♦ Fiddle fish ♦ Fiddle head ♦ Fiddle pattern ♦ fiddle stick ♦ fiddle string ♦ fiddle with ♦ fiddle with smb. ♦ fit as a fiddle ♦ hang up one's fiddle ♦ have a face as long as fiddle ♦ play first fiddle ♦ play second fiddle ♦ saw on the fiddle ♦ scotch fiddle ♦ second fiddle ♦ straw fiddle ♦ to play first fiddle ♦ to play second fiddle. Additional references.

Beginning with "fiddle": fiddle-and-flute, fiddle-back, fiddle-bow, fiddle-case, fiddle-crab, fiddle-de-dee, fiddle-dee-dee, fiddle-faddle, fiddle-faddle!, fiddle-player, fiddle-playing, fiddle-prone, fiddle-shaped.

Ending with "fiddle": ball-fiddle, second-fiddle.

Albanian

violinë (violin), bie violinës (bow). (various references)

Arabic 

‏كمان (violin), ‏حرك أصابعه بقلق, ‏عزف (execute, lute, perform, pick, play, play away, render, set a piano, strike), ‏خدع (bamboozle, beguile, betray, bilk, bitch, bite, blind, bluff, brown, bubble, camouflage, catch, cheat, chisel, con, crook, deceive, deception, decoy, defraud, delude, diddle, do, dupe, entrap, fall for, feint, fob, fool, fox, get round, give the lie to, gull, gyp, hoax, hocus pocus, humbug, illusory, impose, intrigue, jape, job, leg pull, lure, mislead, mock, mystify, nick, overreach, pitch, play a trick, pose, prank, pull a fast one, pull his leg, ream, rook, sell, settle his hash, skin, skunk, slang, stick, string along, swank, swindle, take for a ride, take in, trick, victimize, wile), ‏أضاع الوقت (beat time, idle, screw). (various references)

Bulgarian 

свиря на цигулка, цигулка (violin), цигулар (fiddler, violinist), гъдулка, губя си времето (dally), мамя (cozen, deceive, dupe, flim-flam, gag, gouge, hocus, hoodwink, impose, jockey, juggle, mock, play along, play possum with, rook, shark, stick, string along, take, twist, victimize), подправям (adulterate, cook, debase, doctor, dose, dress, fabricate, falsify, fix up, flavour, forge, gaff, imitate, load, raise, salt, season, sophisticate, spice, wangle), инструмент подобен на цигулка, измама (bunco, bunko, cheat, chouse, cozenage, cross, deceit, deception, delusion, do, double cross, double dealing, doubling, dupery, falsity, flam, foul play, frame up, fraud, gaff, gag, gouge, guile, gyp, hankey-pankey, hanky panky, have on, hoax, hocus pocus, humbug, imposition, imposture, indirection, jiggery pokery, jockeying, jugglery, kid, lemon, overreach, plant, pretence, put on, rig, rip off, roguery, sell, sellout, sham, shuffle, simulacrum, skin game, spoof, swindle, take in, thimblerig, trickery, twist). (various references)

Chamorro

labbet. (various references)

Chinese 

小提琴 (violin). (various references)

Czech

fidlat, zešvindlovat, zafidlovat, skřipky, podvod (cheating, con, deceit, deception, dupery, falsehood, flam, fraud, fraudulence, fraudulency, gammon, gold brick, guile, imposition, imposture, racket, swindle, take in, trick, trickery), podfuk (con, hoax, wangle), hrát na housle, housle (violin), švindl (con, humbug, monkey business, wangle), šidit (cheat). (various references)

Danish

violinblok (fiddle block), vimmer (fiddle-back, wavy figure, wavy grain), tyk tråd (fiddle string), syre (acid), skræppe (fiddle-dock, fiddle-leaf dock). (various references)

Dutch

fraaie zuring (fiddle-dock, fiddle-leaf dock), vioolkatrol (fiddle block), gewaterd hout (fiddle-back, wavy figure, wavy grain), gegolfde tekening (fiddle-back, wavy figure, wavy grain), dikke draad (fiddle string). (various references)

Finnish

viulu (violin). (various references)

French

faire de la fraude, violoner, violon, truquer, jouer du violon, bouger les doigts avec inquiétude, blague (fib), barre � roulis. (various references)

German

geige (violin), fiedel (violin). (various references)

Greek 

βιολί (violin), πασπατεύω (feel, fumble), παίζω βιολί, χασομερώ (dally, dawdle, diddle, dillydally, lag, laze, loaf, loiter). (various references)

Hebrew 

ל� �'ן בכ� ור. (various references)

Hungarian

ravasz fogás (deep trick), mesebeszéd (fable, fudge, that's all smoke), köcsögszárító, kárttisztító, hegedül (bow, play the violin, to fiddle, to play the violin), hegedûs (fiddler), hegedû (violin), hegedűs (fiddler, leader, violin player), hegedű (violin), evőeszköztartó, evőeszköz- és tányérrögzítő, egy kis ravaszság, edényszárító (dish-rag), üvegszárító. (various references)

Italian

falsificare (counterfeit, doctor, fabricate, fake, falsify, forge), violino (fiddlefamiliare, violin), truffa (cheat, do, fraud, hoax, racket, swindle, swindling), suonare il violino, perdere il tempo in sciocchezze, giocherellare (toy, twiddle), gingillarsi (dally, dawdle, moon, trifle), contraffare (adulterate, counterfeit, fake, falsify, forge, imitate, lift, simulate). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

�"�" . (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

�"きゅう (breath, Chinese fiddle, old acquaintance, respiration). (various references)

Korean 

�"이올린 (Violin). (various references)

Manx

kialg (calculation, craft, craft slyness, craftiness, deceit, duplicity, fizz, guile, insidiousness, perfidiousness, sedition, subtlety, swindle, swizzle, treachery), fidleyr (fiddler, violinist), fiddyl, cloie er viol, biol-chloieder (fiddler, violinist), biol (bow drill, viol, violin). (various references)

Norwegian

fele. (various references)

Pig Latin

iddlefay.(various references)

Portuguese

vadiar (dilly-dally, drone, laze, loaf, maroon, mike, roam, wander), tocar rabeca, rabeca, perder tempo (blister, lose one's time, lose time, potter, trifle), desperdiçar (fritter, lose, racket, skittle away, squander, throw away, trifle, waste). (various references)

Romanian

falsifica (adulterate, alter, cook, counterfeit, debase, distort, doctor, Duff, fake, falsify, feign, forge, fudge, huckster, mystify, sophisticate), violã (alto), vioarã (violin), se ocupa cu furturi mici, se juca (be, dally, flirt, game, play, play upon, shy, twiddle with), scripcã, pierde vremea cu nimicuri, irosi (cast away, consume, dissipate, idle, muddle away, spend, squander, waste), escroca (cheat, chouse, fleece, gouge, gull, humbug, rook, swindle, victimize), cânta la vioarã, cânta la scripcã, şmecherie (art, artfulness, artifice, chouse, contrivance, craft, cunning, depth, do, dodge, fetch, sell, slyness, swindle, trickery), aranja (adjust, arrange, clench, compose, compound, concert, conclude, contrive, dispose, do, do out, engineer, fix, fix up, impose, juggle, Marshal, order, organize, pose, posture, put in order, put to rights, put up, set, set out, set to rights, settle, size, stage, Stow, straighten, suit, tidy, tidy up, trim), înşela (abuse, bamboozle, beguile, betray, bluff, cheat, chouse, circumvent, cog, con, cozen, cuckold, deceive, defraud, delude, diddle, disappoint, do, do brown, do something crooked, double cross, dupe, frustrate, gag, get round, gull, hocus, hoodwink, humbug, impose, jockey, juggle, mock, mystify, nobble, out-jockey, pigeon, queer, ramp, rook, sharp, shuffle, swindle, trick, victimize). (various references)

Russian 

скрипка (violin). (various references)

Scottish

fidheall (violin). (various references)

Sepedi

fiolo. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

violina (violin), svirati violinu. (various references)

Spanish

violín (bee, violin). (various references)

Swedish

fiol (violin), fela (be wanting, do wrong, err, fail, make a mistake). (various references)

Thai

หลอกลวง (betray, cheat, dupe, euchre, fake out, fool, fox, fudge, gull, hoax, humbug, mountebank). (various references)

Turkish

zırva (balderdash, baloney, bilge, blather, blether, boloney, bosh, bull, bunk, bunkum, eyewash, fiddle-de-dee, fiddle-faddle, fiddlesticks, flapdoodle, flimflam, gammon, garbage, gassing, hooey, jabber wocky, nonsense, punk, raving, ravings, rot, rubbish, stuff, tommyrot, twaddle), vaktini boşa harcamak (fiddle about, fiddle around), saçma (absurd, applesauce, balls, baloney, blind, boloney, bunk, bunkum, chimerical, claptrap, cockeyed, dissemination, eradiation, fantastic, fantastical, farcical, fatuous, fiddle-de-dee, fiddlesticks, foolish, for the birds, froth, frothy, fudge, go on, hog-wash, hooey, impertinent, inane, incongruous, inept, irrational, jabber wocky, kibosh, laugh, malarkey, nonsense, nonsensical, outlandish, paltry, pointless, poppycock, raving, rhubarb, rot, scattering, senseless, shot, shucks, skittles, small shot, smearcase, sorry, spinach, stuff, tommyrot, tosh, trash, trifling, tripe, trivial, trumpery, unreasonable, wacky, waffle, whacky), keman çalmak (play on the violin, play the violin), keman (violin), katakulli, dalavere yapmak, dalavere (cheating, chicane, deception, do, gammon, gerrymander, hankeypankey, hanky panky, intrigue, jobbing, maneuver, manoeuvre, ploy, rigging, rouser, sell, swindle, trick), boş lâf (applesauce, babble, balderdash, bosh, bunkum, comment, empty words, falderal, fiddle-de-dee, flimflam, flubdub, flummery, froth, fudge, gab, galimatias, garbage, gas, guff, haver, hokum, hooey, hot air, inanity, jazz, lark, moonshine, palaver, poppycock, punk, routine, small talk, talky-talk, tripe, vaporings, vapourings, waffle, wind, wishy-wash), ayrıntılarla ilgilenmek (fiddle-faddle), aylaklık etmek (arse around, bum, bum around, dawdle, fiddle about, fiddle around, footle, frig, loaf, loaf about, loaf around, not to work), üzerinde oynama yapmak (doctor, garble), üçkâğıt (cheat, frame up, gadget, have, hocus pocus, hokey-pokey, hoky-poky, humbug, jiggery pokery, rouser, ruse, skin game, swindle, trick, wheeler-dealing, wheeling and dealing, wile). (various references)

Ukrainian

струнний інструмент, скрипаль (fiddler, violin, violinist), грати на скрипці, веселун (merry maker). (various references)

Vietnamese 

cái chốt (detent, joint-pin, peg). (various references)

Welsh

ffidlo, ffidl, crwth (crowd, hump, purring). (various references)

vitula. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "fiddle": fiddleback, fiddlebacks, fiddled, fiddlehead, fiddleheads, fiddler, fiddlers, fiddles, fiddlestick, fiddlesticks. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Fiddle" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: diddledy, Faddle, feddel, feddle, fidal, fidale, fidel, Fidele, Fidelia, fidl, fidle, fidula, foidel, Frindle, liddle, niddle. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: felid, field, filed, flied, idled.

-2 letters: defi, deil, delf, deli, died, diel, file, fled, idle, lied, lief, life.

-3 letters: del, did, die, eld, elf, fed, fid, fie, fil, led, lei, lid, lie.

-4 letters: de, ed, ef, el, id, if, li.

+1 letter: defiled, fiddled, fiddler, fiddles, fielded.

+2 letters: deadlift, defilade, fiddlers, infolded, midfield.

+3 letters: deadlifts, defiladed, defilades, disulfide, downfield, dulcified, enfiladed, fluidised, fluidized, goldfield, midfields, pinfolded, undefiled.

+4 letters: befuddling, deadlifted, defilading, defoliated, disulfides, feudalized, fiddleback, fiddlehead, goldfields, lapidified, manifolded, midfielder, misfielded, paddlefish, solidified.

+5 letters: blindfolded, deadlifting, decalcified, diffidently, federalized, fiddlebacks, fiddleheads, fiddlestick, fluoridated, interfolded, lifeguarded, midfielders.