Fiddle-faddle.

It is all fiddle-faddle. Rubbishy nonsense; talk not worth attention. A ricochet word, of which we have a vast number, as “flim-flam,” “helter-skelter,” “wishy-washy,” etc. To fiddle is to waste time in playing on the fiddle, and hence fiddle means a trifle, and fiddle-faddle is silly trifle or silly nonsense.

“Pitiful fool that I was to stand fiddle-faddling in that way.”


Clough: Amours de Voyage, canto iv. stanza 3.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

Fiacre
Fian (John)
Fiars
Fiasco
Fiat
Fib
Fico
Fiddle (Latin, fidis or fides)
Fiddle About (To)
Fiddle-de-dee!
Fiddle-faddle
Fiddleback
Fiddler
Fiddler’s Fare or Fiddler’s Pay
Fiddler’s Green
Fiddler’s Money
Fiddler’s News
Fiddlestick
Fiddlesticks!
Fidele
Fidelio