Hypertext Webster Gateway: "fiddling"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Fiddle \Fid"dle\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Fiddled}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Fiddling}.]
1. To play on a fiddle.
Themistocles . . . said he could not fiddle, but he
could make a small town a great city. --Bacon.
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.
Talking, and fiddling with their hats and feathers.
--Pepys.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (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}]
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