FIDDLE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does fiddle mean? 

• FIDDLE (noun)
  The noun FIDDLE has 1 sense:

1. 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

  Familiarity information: FIDDLE used as a noun is very rare.

• FIDDLE (verb)
  The verb FIDDLE has 7 senses:

1. avoid (one's assigned duties)

2. commit fraud and steal from one's employer

3. play the violin or fiddle

4. play on a violin

5. manipulate manually or in one's mind or imagination

6. play around with or alter or falsify, usually secretively or dishonestly

7. try to fix or mend

  Familiarity information: FIDDLE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FIDDLE (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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

fiddle; violin

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)

• FIDDLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they fiddle    ... he / she / it fiddles   
Past simple: fiddled   
Past participle: fiddled   
-ing form: fiddling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Avoid (one's assigned duties)

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

fiddle; goldbrick; shirk; shrink from

Context example:

The derelict soldier shirked his duties

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

Sense 2

Meaning:

Commit fraud and steal from one's employer

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Context example:

We found out that she had been fiddling for years

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 3

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 4

Meaning:

Play on a violin

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Context example:

Zuckerman fiddled that song very nicely

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:

Manipulate manually or in one's mind or imagination

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

diddle; fiddle; play; toy

Context example:

He played with the idea of running for the Senate

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 6

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

fiddle; monkey; tamper

Context example:

The reporter fiddle with the facts

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

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

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 7

Meaning:

Try to fix or mend

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

fiddle; tinker

Context example:

She always fiddles with her van on the weekend

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)

 Context examples 

Oh, for heaven’s sake! cried the miser, Master! master! pray let the fiddle alone.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The musicians fiddled, tooted, and banged as if they enjoyed it, everybody danced who could, and those who couldn't admired their neighbors with uncommon warmth.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

And your mother tells me that you play the fiddle.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was no gentle lamb, and the part of second fiddle would never do for the high-pitched dominance of his nature.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The second course was two ducks trussed up in the form of fiddles; sausages and puddings resembling flutes and hautboys, and a breast of veal in the shape of a harp.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

We've a little stranger here—he! he! A noo boarder and lodger, sir, and looking fit and taut as a fiddle; slep' like a supercargo, he did, right alongside of John—stem to stem we was, all night.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

He made many attempts to induce me to consent to an exchange; at one time coming out with a fishing-rod, at another with a fiddle, at another with a cocked hat, at another with a flute.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

So he took the purse, put up his fiddle, and travelled on very pleased with his bargain.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Their outward garments were adorned with the figures of suns, moons, and stars; interwoven with those of fiddles, flutes, harps, trumpets, guitars, harpsichords, and many other instruments of music, unknown to us in Europe.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Blest if she ain't in silk from head to foot; ain't it a relishin' sight to see her settin' there as fine as a fiddle, and hear folks calling little Amy 'Mis. Laurence!' muttered old Hannah, who could not resist frequent peeks through the slide as she set the table in a most decidedly promiscuous manner.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)