FIDDLING

fiddling, footling, lilliputian, little, niggling, piddling, piffling, petty, picayune, trivial

(adjective) (informal) small and of little importance; “a fiddling sum of money”; “a footling gesture”; “our worries are lilliputian compared with those of countries that are at war”; “a little (or small) matter”; “a dispute over niggling details”; “limited to petty enterprises”; “piffling efforts”; “giving a police officer a free meal may be against the law, but it seems to be a picayune infraction”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Verb

fiddling

present participle of fiddle

Noun

fiddling (plural fiddlings)

action of the verb to fiddle

Adjective

fiddling

Of petty or trivial importance; footling

It was a fiddling little fault, but ultimately proved disastrous.

Source: Wiktionary

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FIDDLE

Fid"dle, n. Etym: [OE. fidele, fithele, AS. fi; akin to D. vedel, OHG. fidula, G. fiedel, Icel. fi, and perh. to E. viol. Cf. Viol.]

1. (Mus.)

Definition: A stringed instrument of music played with a bow; a violin; a kit.

2. (Bot.)

Definition: A kind of dock (Rumex pulcher) with fiddle-shaped leaves; -- called also fiddle dock.

3. (Naut.)

Definition: 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. Fiddle beetle (Zoöl.), 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 (Zoöl.), the angel fish.

– Fiddle head, an ornament on a ship's bow, curved like the volute or scroll at the head of a violin.

– Fiddle pattern, a form of the handles of spoons, forks, etc., somewhat like a violin.

– Scotch fiddle, the itch. (Low) -- To play first, or second, fiddle, to take a leading or a subordinate part. [Colloq.]

Fid"dle, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Fiddled; p. pr. & vb. n. Fiddling.]

1. To play on a fiddle. Themistocles . . . said he could not fiddle, but he could make a small town a great city. Bacon.

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. Talking, and fiddling with their hats and feathers. Pepys.

Fid"dle, v. t.

Definition: To play (a tune) on a fiddle.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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