Fiddling

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Fiddle \Fid"dle\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Fiddled}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Fiddling}.]
     1. To play on a fiddle.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Themistocles . . . said he could not fiddle, but he


              could make a small town a great city. --Bacon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Talking, and fiddling with their hats and feathers.
                                                    --Pepys.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  fiddling
       adj : (informal terms) small and of little importance; "a fiddling
             sum of money"; "a footling gesture"; "our worries are
             lilliputian compared with those of countries that are
             at war"; "a little (or small) matter"; "Mickey Mouse
             regulations"; "a dispute over niggling details";
             "limited to petty enterprises"; "piffling efforts";
             "giving a police officer a free meal may be against the
             law, but it seems to be a picayune infraction" [syn: {footling},
              {lilliputian}, {little}, {Mickey Mouse}, {niggling}, {piddling},
              {piffling}, {petty}, {picayune}, {trivial}]