fiddle

Definitions

1. 1.(Bot.) A kind of dock (Rumex pulcher) with fiddle-shaped leaves; -- called also fiddle dock.
2. 2.(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.]
3. 3.To play on a fiddle. Themistocles . . . said he could not fiddle, but he could make a small town a great city. Bacon.
4. 4.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.
5. 5.To play (a tune) on a fiddle.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Related questions

• What does "fiddle" mean?
• What is another word for "fiddle"?

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is fiddle.

• What is a kind of dock (Rumex pulcher) with fiddle-shaped leaves; -- called also fiddle dock called?
• What is to play on a fiddle. Themistocles . . . said he could not fiddle, but he could make a small town a great city. Bacon called?
• What is 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 called?