🙄 Nonsense exclamation 🗯️ Nonsense talk 🎻 A violin bow

fiddlesticks

9.7

A stick with horsehair that you use to play a violin

noun
/ˈfɪdəlˌstɪks/

: arco

She bought new fiddlesticks for her violin after the old ones wore out.

Examples

During the lesson, the teacher explained how to hold the fiddlesticks properly for better sound.
The musician carefully tightened the horsehair on his fiddlesticks before the concert began.
He played the violin with a fiddlestick.
The fiddlesticks were made of high-quality wood.
The musician carefully tightened the horsehair on his fiddlesticks before the concert began.
She bought new fiddlesticks for her violin after the old ones wore out.
During the lesson, the teacher explained how to hold the fiddlesticks properly for better sound.

Synonyms

bow

vsfiddlesticks

28 5.6

A curved stick with tight hairs used to play string instruments like the violin

is the same musical tool but named and used mainly for fiddle instruments

fiddlestick

vsfiddlesticks

Archaic

2 9.0

A long stick with horsehair used to play a violin

is the general term for that tool used for fiddle or similar instruments

violin bow

vsfiddlesticks

1 4.0

A thin curved stick with horsehair used to play the violin by drawing it across the strings

is the same tool but refers broadly to fiddle and similar instruments

Surface Forms

fiddlesticks singular

fiddlesticks plural

Morphology

fiddlesticks = fiddlestick (transparent) = fiddle + stick + s

The meaning is literally a 'fiddle' + 'stick' (a bow), so the compound is directly interpretable.

Etymology

Fiddlesticks can also be plain and literal: it is the fiddle's stick or bows used to play the instrument. That's why musicians still call their violin bow 'fiddlesticks'.