n. [ OE. fidele, fithele, AS. fiðele; akin to D. vedel, OHG. fidula, G. fiedel, Icel. fiðla, and perh. to E. viol. Cf. Viol. ] 1. (Mus.) A stringed instrument of music played with a bow; a violin; a kit. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) A kind of dock (Rumex pulcher) with fiddle-shaped leaves; -- called also fiddle dock. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Naut.) A rack or frame of bars connected by strings, to keep table furniture in place on the cabin table in bad weather. Ham. Nav. Encyc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fiddle beetle (Zool.), a Japanese carabid beetle (Damaster blaptoides); -- so called from the form of the body. --
Fiddle block (Naut.), a long tackle block having two sheaves of different diameters in the same plane, instead of side by side as in a common double block. Knight. --
Fiddle bow, fiddlestick. --
Fiddle fish (Zool.), the angel fish. --
Fiddle head, See fiddle head in the vocabulary. --
Fiddle pattern, a form of the handles of spoons, forks, etc., somewhat like a violin. --
Scotch fiddle, the itch. (Low) --
To play first fiddle, or
To play second fiddle, to take a leading or a subordinate part. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Fiddled p. pr. & vb. n. Fiddling ] 1. To play on a fiddle. [ 1913 Webster ]

Themistocles . . . said he could not fiddle, but he could make a small town a great city. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To keep the hands and fingers actively moving as a fiddler does; to move the hands and fingers restlessy or in busy idleness; to trifle. [ 1913 Webster ]

Talking, and fiddling with their hats and feathers. Pepys. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To play (a tune) on a fiddle. [ 1913 Webster ]

interj. An exclamatory word or phrase, equivalent to nonsense! [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A trifle; trifling talk; nonsense. [ Colloq. ] Spectator. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To talk nonsense. [ Colloq. ] Ford. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. any of several tall ferns of northern temperate regions having graceful arched fronds and sporophylls resembling ostrich plumes.
Syn. -- ostrich fern, shuttlecock fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris, Pteretis struthiopteris, Onoclea struthiopteris. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. New World fern (Osmunda cinnamonea) having woolly cinnamon-colored spore-bearing fronds in early spring later surrounded by green fronds, called also fiddlehead fern; the early uncurling fronds are edible, and sometimes considered as a vegetable delicacy.
Syn. -- cinnamon fern, fiddlehead fern, Osmunda cinnamonea. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

3. (Naut.) an ornament on a ship's bow, curved like the volute or scroll at the head of a violin. Sometimes it serves the function of a billhead. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. hairy annual plant (Phacelia tanacetifolia) of California to Mexico with crowded cymes of small blue to lilac or mauve flowers.
Syn. -- Phacelia tanacetifolia. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ AS. fiðelere. ] 1. One who plays on a fiddle or violin. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) A burrowing crab of the genus Gelasimus, of many species. The male has one claw very much enlarged, and often holds it in a position similar to that in which a musician holds a fiddle, hence the name; -- called also fiddler crab, calling crab, soldier crab, and fighting crab. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) The common European sandpiper (Tringoides hypoleucus); -- so called because it continually oscillates its body. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fiddler crab. (Zool.) See Fiddler, n., 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Bot.) Inversely ovate, with a deep hollow on each side. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. shaped like a fiddle; -- of a leaf shape.
Syn. -- pandurate, panduriform. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The bow, strung with horsehair, used in playing the fiddle; a fiddle bow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One of the catgut strings of a fiddle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Corrupted fr. F. bois-fidèle, lit., faithful wood; -- so called from its durability. ] The wood of several West Indian trees, mostly of the genus Citharexylum. [ 1913 Webster ]