Fiddle

fid′l, n. a stringed instrument of music, called also a Violin .— v.t. or v.i. to play on a fiddle: to be busy over trifles, to trifle:— pr.p. fidd′ling; pa.p. fidd′led. — ns. Fidd′le-block , a long block having two sheaves of different diameters in the same plane; Fidd′le-bow , a bow strung with horse-hair, with which the strings of the fiddle are set vibrating.— interjs. Fidd′le-de-dee , Fidd′lestick (often pl. ), nonsense!— v.i. Fidd′le-fadd′le , to trifle, to dally.— n. trifling talk.— adj. fu y, trifling.— interj. nonsense!— n. Fidd′le-fadd′ler .— adj. Fidd′le-fadd′ling .— ns. Fidd′le-head , an ornament at a ship's bow, over the cut-water, consisting of a scroll turning aft or inward; Fidd′ler , one who fiddles: a small crab of genus Gelasimus ; Fidd′le-string , a string for a fiddle; Fidd′le-wood , a tropical American tree yielding valuable hard wood.— adj. Fidd′ling , trifling, busy about trifles.— Fiddler's green , a sailor's name for a place of frolic on shore.— Play first , or second , fiddle , to take the part of the first, or second, violin-player in an orchestra: to take a leading, or a subordinate, part in anything; Scotch fiddle , the itch. [A.S. fiðele ; Ger. fiedel . See Violin .]