fiddle while Rome burns Definition

fiddle
noun

1a. A violin, especially when used to play folk music or jazz;
1b. colloq, often disparaging
Any violin.
2. colloq
A dishonest arrangement; a fraud.
3. A raised rim round a table to keep dishes from sliding off it.
4. A manually delicate or tricky operation.

verb fiddled, fiddling

intr
1. To play about aimlessly with it; to tinker, toy or meddle with it.

Example: He was fiddling all the time
Example: She was always fiddling with her hair
Thesaurus: tamper, toy, tinker, fidget, play, trifle, mess around.
Form: fiddle with something (often)
tr & intr
2. To falsify (accounts, etc); to manage or manipulate dishonestly.

Example: to fiddle the cash till
tr & intr
3. To play a violin or fiddle; to play (a tune) on one.

Idiom: as fit as a fiddle

In excellent health.

Idiom: fiddle while Rome burns

To be preoccupied with trifles in a crisis.

Idiom: on the fiddle

colloq
Making money dishonestly.
Example: He was always on the fiddle

Idiom: play second fiddle to someone

To be subordinate to them.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon fithele; compare viol.

Phrasal Verb: fiddle around or about

To waste time.
Example: kept fiddling about and got nothing done