Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Fiddle \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.]