Fid″dle (fĭd″d'l), n. [OE. fidele, fithele, AS. fiðele; akin to D. vedel, OHG. fidula, G. fiedel, Icel. fiðla, 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(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 playfirst, or second, fiddle, to take a leading or a subordinate part.