| Definitions | | fiddle |
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noun
- (context, music) The violin when played in any of various traditional styles, as opposed to classical violin.
- When I play it like this, it's a fiddle; when I play it like that, it's a violin.
- An adjustment intended to cover up a basic flaw.
- That parameter setting is just a fiddle to make the lighting look right.
- fraud
- (context, nautical) On board a ship or boat, a rail or batten around the edge of a table or stove to prevent objects falling off at sea. (Also fiddle rail)
verb (fiddl, ing)
- To play aimlessly.
- You're fiddling your life away.
- To adjust in order to cover a basic flaw or fraud etc.
- I needed to fiddle the lighting parameters to get the image to look right.
- Fred was sacked when the auditors caught him fiddling the books.
- (context, music) To play traditional tunes on a violin using the aforementioned styles.
Etymology: From Middle English fithele, from fiíele. Cognate with Old High German fidula (German Fiedel), Old Norse fiíla (Icelandic fiíla, Danish fiddel, Norwegian felaNorwegian, fela), Middle Dutch vedele (Dutch veel, vedel).The ultimate source of the word is unknown. Some argue that the similarity in Germanic variations can be explained by adoption and subsequent corruption of a contemporary Latin word, vitula or vidula. This is known to have occurred with the Romance languages eg. viol or viola in French, Portuguese, Italian and Spanish. Others argue that the Germanic words have a uniquely Teutonic origin, but no earlier forms have been found.
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