fiddle-faddle

English

Alternative forms

• fiddlefaddle

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

fiddle-faddle (uncountable)

1. nonsense

   I can understand why people read horoscopes, but for me it's a bunch of fiddle-faddle.

   • 1679 Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher: Fifty Comedies and Tragedies. The Humourous Lieutenant. p. 190

     These foolish Mistresses do so hang about ye, so whimper, and so hug, I know it Gentlemen, and so intice ye, now ye are i’th’ bud;
     and that sweet tilting war, with eyes and kisses, th’ alarms of soft vows, and sighs, and fiddle faddles, spoils all our trade:
     you must forget these knick knacks, a woman at some time of year, I grant ye she is necessarie; but make no business of her.

Synonyms

• see Thesaurus:nonsense

Verb

fiddle-faddle (third-person singular simple present fiddle-faddles, present participle fiddle-faddling, simple past and past participle fiddle-faddled)

1. (intransitive) To trifle; to dally.
   • 1911 Ambrose Bierce, The devil's dictionary. Neale Publishing, 1909-1912 The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce: Volume VII p. 88.

     ELEGY, n. A composition in verse, in which, without employing any of the methods of humor, the writer aims to produce in the reader's mind
     the dampest kind of dejection. The most famous English example begins somewhat like this:
     
        The cur foretells the knell of parting day;
            The loafing herd winds slowly o'er the lea;
        The wise man homeward plods; I only stay
            To fiddle-faddle in a minor key.

Adjective

fiddle-faddle (comparative more fiddle-faddle, superlative most fiddle-faddle)

1. (intransitive) Trifling; dallying; inclined to fuss about trifles.
   • 1712 John Arbuthnot. The History of John Bull: Oxford University Press 1976 →ISBN p.68

     The witnesses made oath that they had heard some of the liverymen frequently railing at their mistress. They said she was a troublesome fiddle-faddle old woman, and so ceremonious that there was no bearing of her. They were so plagued with bowing and cringing as they went in and out of the room that their backs ached.

Derived terms

• fiddle-faddler