fiddler

== English == === Etymology === From Middle English fithelere, from Old English fiþelere, from *fiþele. By surface analysis, fiddl(e) +‎ -er. (capstan-house): So called because the fiddle would sometimes be played to cheer the sailors working there. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈfɪdələ(ɹ)/, /ˈfɪdlə(ɹ)/ === Noun === fiddler (plural fiddlers) One who plays the fiddle. One who fiddles; a cheat. 2005, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, The drama of my life (in The Independent online, [1]) We were the self-controlled, cautious, nifty merchants, decorous fiddlers of accounts, hoarders of wealth, excellent bribers, family and community creatures governed by manners. One who fiddles or tweaks. 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. The common European sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos); so called because it habitually wags its tail up and down resembling the back and forth movement of a fiddler. A large species of cicada, Macrotristria angularis, of eastern Australia; cherry nose. (UK, slang, obsolete) A coin of little value: a sixpence or a farthing. (nautical, slang) The capstan-house on a steamer. ==== Synonyms ==== fiddlist, fiddleist (both dated) ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== ==== References ==== (capstan-house): John Camden Hotten (1873), The Slang Dictionary === Anagrams === Friddle