fiddle
    n 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 [syn: violin, fiddle]
    v 1: avoid (one's assigned duties); "The derelict soldier
         shirked his duties" [syn: fiddle, shirk, shrink from,
         goldbrick]
    2: commit fraud and steal from one's employer; "We found out
       that she had been fiddling for years"
    3: play the violin or fiddle
    4: play on a violin; "Zuckerman fiddled that song very nicely"
    5: manipulate manually or in one's mind or imagination; "She
       played nervously with her wedding ring"; "Don't fiddle with
       the screws"; "He played with the idea of running for the
       Senate" [syn: toy, fiddle, diddle, play]
    6: play around with or alter or falsify, usually secretively or
       dishonestly; "Someone tampered with the documents on my
       desk"; "The reporter fiddle with the facts" [syn: tamper,
       fiddle, monkey]
    7: try to fix or mend; "Can you tinker with the T.V. set--it's
       not working right"; "She always fiddles with her van on the
       weekend" [syn: tinker, fiddle]

Fiddle \Fid"dle\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Fiddled; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Fiddling.]
   1. To play on a fiddle.
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            Themistocles . . . said he could not fiddle, but he
            could make a small town a great city. --Bacon.
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   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.
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            Talking, and fiddling with their hats and feathers.
                                                  --Pepys.
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Fiddle \Fid"dle\ (f[i^]d"d'l), n. [OE. fidele, fithele, AS.
   fi[eth]ele; akin to D. vedel, OHG. fidula, G. fiedel, Icel.
   fi[eth]la, and perh. to E. viol. Cf. Viol.]
   1. (Mus.) A stringed instrument of music played with a bow; a
      violin; a kit.
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   2. (Bot.) A kind of dock (Rumex pulcher) with fiddle-shaped
      leaves; -- called also fiddle dock.
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   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.
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   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.]
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Fiddle \Fid"dle\, v. t.
   To play (a tune) on a fiddle.
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FIDDLE, n.  An instrument to tickle human ears by friction of a
horse's tail on the entrails of a cat.

    To Rome said Nero:  "If to smoke you turn
    I shall not cease to fiddle while you burn."
    To Nero Rome replied:  "Pray do your worst,
    'Tis my excuse that you were fiddling first."
                                                            Orm Pludge