fiddlestick, n.
(ˈfɪd(ə)lstɪk)
[f. fiddle n. + stick n.]
1. The bow strung with horsehair with which the fiddle is played. the devil rides on a fiddle-stick: = here's a fine commotion.
| 14.. Nom. MS. Reg. 17 in Wr.-Wülcker 693 Hic arculus, fydylstyk. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 535 The Deuill rides vpon a Fiddle-sticke. 1653 Walton Angler 106, I lent you indeed my Fiddle, but not my Fiddlestick. 1773 Johnson in Boswell 15 Apr., Give him a fiddle and a fiddle-stick, and he can do nothing. 1842 Abdy Water Cure (1843) 210, I might as well inquire whether the fiddle or the fiddle-stick makes the tune. |
2. humorously. Something insignificant or absurd, a mere nothing. Often substituted for another word in derisively repeating a remark. Also, fiddlestick's end. not to care a fiddlestick: to care not at all.
| 1621 Fletcher Pilgrim iii. iv, Shot with a fiddlestick: who's here to shoot ye? 1701 Farquhar Sir H. Wildair iv. ii, Golden pleasures! golden fiddlesticks! 1796 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue (ed. 3), Fiddlestick's End, Nothing. 1807–8 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 140 We do not care a fiddle⁓stick..for either public opinion or private ill-will. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. viii, ‘We purify the boys' bloods now and then.’ ‘Purify fiddlesticks' ends,’ said his lady. 1855 Thackeray Newcomes x, She..proposed to die of a broken heart..A broken fiddlestick! 1877 Black Green Past. xxvii. (1878) 214 ‘Beware the awful fiddlesticks!’ she flippantly answered. |
3. Hence as int. An exclamation equivalent to Nonsense! fiddle-de-dee! Often in pl. Also, fiddlestick's end!
| 1600 Nashe Summer's Last Will Wks. (Grosart) VI. 130 A fiddlesticke! ne're tell me I am full of words. 1842 Thackeray Miss Tickletoby's Lect. vii, Do you suppose men so easily change their natures? Fiddlestick! 1854 H. Ainsworth Flitch of Bacon ii. 17 ‘And she refused you.’ ‘Fortunately she did, my dear.’ ‘Fiddlestick's end! I dare say you preferred her.’ 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ix. (1871) 186 Fiddlesticks! it's nothing but the skin broken. 1883 Stevenson Treasure Isl. i. ii. (1886) 16 ‘Wounded? A fiddle-stick's end!’ said the doctor. 1887 Jessopp Arcady vii. 219 Once a labourer always a labourer? Fiddlesticks! |