\Fid"dle\, n. [OE. fidele, fithele, AS. fi?ele; akin to
D. vedel, OHG. fidula, G. fiedel, Icel. fi?la, and perh. to
E. viol. Cf. {Viol}.]
1. (Mus.) A stringed instrument of music played with a bow; a
   violin; a kit.
2. (Bot.) A kind of dock ({Rumex pulcher}) with fiddle-shaped
   leaves; -- called also {fiddle dock}.
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.
{Fiddle beetle} (Zo["o]l.), 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} (Zo["o]l.), 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.
To play (a tune) on a fiddle.