Library / English Dictionary

FIDDLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Synonyms:

fiddle; violin

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("fiddle" is a kind of...):

bowed stringed instrument; string (stringed instruments that are played with a bow)

Meronyms (parts of "fiddle"):

chin rest (a rest on which a violinist can place the chin)

fiddlestick; violin bow (a bow used in playing the violin)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fiddle"):

Amati (a violin made by Nicolo Amati or a member of his family)

Guarnerius (a violin made by a member of the Guarneri family)

Strad; Stradavarius (a violin made by Antonio Stradivari or a member of his family)

Derivation:

fiddle (play the violin or fiddle)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Try to fix or mend

Example:

She always fiddles with her van on the weekend

Synonyms:

fiddle; tinker

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "fiddle" is one way to...):

bushel; doctor; fix; furbish up; mend; repair; restore; touch on (restore by replacing a part or putting together what is torn or broken)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

fiddler (an unskilled person who tries to fix or mend)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Play around with or alter or falsify, usually secretively or dishonestly

Example:

The reporter fiddle with the facts

Synonyms:

fiddle; monkey; tamper

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "fiddle" is one way to...):

manipulate (hold something in one's hands and move it)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Manipulate manually or in one's mind or imagination

Example:

He played with the idea of running for the Senate

Synonyms:

diddle; fiddle; play; toy

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "fiddle" is one way to...):

manipulate (hold something in one's hands and move it)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "fiddle"):

put out; retire (cause to be out on a fielding play)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

fiddler (someone who manipulates in a nervous or unconscious manner)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Play on a violin

Example:

Zuckerman fiddled that song very nicely

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "fiddle" is one way to...):

play; spiel (replay (as a melody))

Verb group:

fiddle (play the violin or fiddle)

Domain category:

music (an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Play the violin or fiddle

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "fiddle" is one way to...):

play (perform music on (a musical instrument))

Verb group:

fiddle (play on a violin)

Domain category:

music (musical activity (singing or whistling etc.))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

fiddle (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)

fiddler (a musician who plays the violin)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Commit fraud and steal from one's employer

Example:

We found out that she had been fiddling for years

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "fiddle" is one way to...):

defalcate; embezzle; malversate; misappropriate; peculate (appropriate (as property entrusted to one's care) fraudulently to one's own use)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 7

Meaning:

Avoid (one's assigned duties)

Example:

The derelict soldier shirked his duties

Synonyms:

fiddle; goldbrick; shirk; shrink from

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "fiddle" is one way to...):

avoid (refrain from doing something)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "fiddle"):

scrimshank (British military language: avoid work)

malinger; skulk (avoid responsibilities and duties, e.g., by pretending to be ill)

slack (avoid responsibilities and work, be idle)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

“No,” said he, “I do not ask my life; only to let me play upon my fiddle for the last time.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The dwarf said he should have his three wishes; so he gave him the bow and fiddle, and went his way.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Then the countryman stopped his fiddle, and left the miser to take his place at the gallows.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

But the countryman seized his fiddle, and struck up a tune, and at the first note judge, clerks, and jailer were in motion; all began capering, and no one could hold the miser.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

At last he went to the judge, and complained that a rascal had robbed him of his money, and beaten him into the bargain; and that the fellow who did it carried a bow at his back and a fiddle hung round his neck.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The miser crept into the bush to find it; but directly he had got into the middle, his companion took up his fiddle and played away, and the miser began to dance and spring about, capering higher and higher in the air.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Then the countryman rejoiced at his good luck, and said, I like many things better than money: first, I will have a bow that will bring down everything I shoot at; secondly, a fiddle that will set everyone dancing that hears me play upon it; and thirdly, I should like that everyone should grant what I ask.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)