fiddle fish (fidlfish)

The monkfish or angelfish: so called from its shape. [Local, Eng.] fiddle-head (fid'l-hed), n. Naut., an ornament at the bow of a ship, over the cutwater, consisting of carved work in the form of a volute or scroll, resembling somewhat that at the head of a violin. fiddler (fid'ler), n. [ Fiddle-head. IMG:content-1271.png:[blocks in formation] Here's my fiddlestick ; here's that shall make you dance. Shak ., R. and J., iii. 1. Fiddle-shaped 2. A mere nothing; chiefly as an exclamation, nonsense! fiddle-de-dee! often in the plural, fiddlesticks ! You are strangely frighted; Shot with a fiddlestick ! who's here to shoot you? Fletcher , Pilgrim, iii. 4. At such an a ertion he would have exclaimed: A fiddle stick! Why and how that word has become an interjection of contempt I must leave those to explain who can. Southey , The Doctor, clxxxix. She wanted to marry her cousin, Tom Poyntz, when they were both very young, and proposed to die of a broken heart when I arranged her match with Mr. Newcome. A broken fiddlestick ! she would have ruined Tom Poyntz in a year. Thackeray , New comes, x. The devil rides on a fiddlestick. See devil. IMG:content-1272.jpg:[blocks in formation]