Translate fiddle | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish Definition of fiddle
noun
1 informal a violin, especially when used to play folk music.
2 informal, chiefly
British an act of defrauding, cheating, or falsifying:a major mortgage fiddle
3 Nautical a contrivance, such as a raised rim, that prevents things from rolling or sliding off a table in bad weather.
verb
informal 1 [no object] play the fiddle:he fiddled with the band from 1949 to 1951 (fiddling)country music with lots of fiddling and banjo playing [with object] play (a tune) on the fiddle:Bill Monroe fiddled his last tune at his annual Beanblossom Bluegrass Festival
2 [no object] touch or fidget with something in a restless or nervous way:Laura fiddled with her cup tinker with something in an attempt to make minor adjustments or improvements:never fiddle with an electric machine that’s plugged in (
fiddle around)
pass time aimlessly, without doing or achieving anything of substance.
3 [with object] chiefly
British falsify (figures, data, or records), typically in order to gain money:everyone is fiddling their expenses
