bull fiddle
- noun
- /bʊl ˈfɪdəl/
- Archaic
:
contrabajo
- The orchestra members quickly tuned their bull fiddle before the performance began.
Examples
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Look at the bull fiddle!
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They got the bull fiddle.
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Oh, well, that's from carrying that bull fiddle around all day.
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The musician effortlessly played a beautiful melody on his bull fiddle during the concert.
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She often jokes that her bull fiddle is her favorite instrument to play at family gatherings.
Synonyms
1
3.6
A large string instrument with four strings that makes very low sounds when played with a bow or plucked
1
3.7
A very large low instrument with a deep sound used in orchestras and jazz bands
1
4.7
A very large violin that makes very low sounds
The largest instrument in the violin family with very low notes used in orchestras
How Low-Pitched
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound links 'bull' (evoking largeness/strength) with 'fiddle' (a bowed string instrument), so a learner who knows the constituents can infer a sense of a very large or heavy fiddle. However, the exact identification with the double bass and the informal/regional nature of 'bull fiddle' are not fully predictable without exposure, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
The noun bull fiddle comes from a simple picture: the instrument is very big and makes deep notes, so people compared it to a bull and called it a kind of fiddle. That's why bull fiddle today is an informal name for the 'double bass'.