fiddle
A violin, a small unfretted stringed instrument with four strings tuned G-D-A-E,…A violin, a small unfretted stringed instrument with four strings tuned (lowest to highest) G-D-A-E, usually held against the chin, shoulder, chest or on the upper thigh and played with a bow (see also usage notes below).
» Tom plays the fiddle.
Том играет на скрипке.
Том грає на скрипці.
Meaning
14 sensesA violin, a small unfretted stringed instrument with four strings tuned (lowest to highest) G-D-A-E, usually held against the chin, shoulder, chest or on the upper thigh and played with a bow (see also usage notes below).
When I play it like this, it's a fiddle; when I play it like that, it's a violin.
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
(proscribed, usually)Any of various other bowed stringed instruments, particularly those of the violin family when played non-classically.
A violinist, or fiddler, in a band.
He is first fiddle in the band.
Something resembling a violin, or fiddle, in shape
A dock (Rumex pulcher) with leaves supposed to resemble the musical instrument.
A long pole pulled by a draft animal to drag loose straw, hay, etc.
A rack for drying pottery after glazing.
(figuratively)A clown; an unserious person entertaining a group.
Unskillful or unartful behavior, particularly when showy and superficially pleasing.
(figuratively, informal)A scam; a fraud or swindle.
There was some kind of fiddle going on at that company, and several of the directors were arrested.
(figuratively, informal)A workaround; a quick and less than perfect solution for some flaw or problem.
That parameter setting is just a fiddle to make the lighting look right.
(figuratively, informal)An act of tinkering, playing around, or fidgeting with something.
(especially)Any rail or device that prevents items from sliding off a table, stove, etc. in rough water.
Schiffsgeländer
(UK, obsolete, slang)An arrest warrant.
Examples
37 sentencesTom plays the fiddle.
Том грає на скрипці.
ruТом играет на скрипке.
Tom is fiddling with his bow tie.
Tom plays fiddle in a bluegrass band.
Tom is always fiddling with his smartphone.
You're certainly looking fit as a fiddle today.
ruДа, сегодня ты выглядишь как нельзя лучше.
deNa, heute siehst du ja fit wie ein Turnschuh aus.
Translations
3 languagesBy meaning 1
Origin
From Middle English fithele, from Old English *fiþele, from Proto-West Germanic *fiþulā, fFrom Middle English fithele, from Old English *fiþele, from Proto-West Germanic *fiþulā, from Proto-Germanic *fiþulǭ (“fiddle”), of uncertain etymology. Some contest that the Germanic terms are borrowed variations of Late Latin vitula (see viola); others contest that the word has a separate origin within Germanic languages, and still others believe that the Late Latin term for the stringed instrument is a borrowing from Germanic as a change of Latin t to Germanic þ is highly improbable, yet Germanic þ to Latin t is well documented (see troop, trousers, Teobaldo, etc.). Cognate with Old High German fidula (German Fiedel), Middle Dutch vedele (Dutch vedel, veel), Old Norse fiðla (Icelandic fiðla, Danish fiddel, Norwegian fela, Swedish fela).
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Forms
plural: fiddlesSynonyms
1 synonyms- 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:violin