fiddlesticks

alternative dated fiddlestick

1. euphemisticNonsense! Expresses dismissal or disdain.

   Fiddlesticks! It's nothing but smoke and mirrors!

   5 more examples

   Golden pleasures! golden fiddlesticks!—What d'ye tell me of your canting stuff?

   1701, George Farquhar, Sir Harry Wildair, act 4, scene 2; republished in The Dramatic Works of George Farquhar, volume 1, London: John C. Nimmo, 1892, page 295

   "Taken the veil—taken fiddlesticks!" said the old man, merrily; "why she lives near Lincoln, is married to a substantial man, the junior partner of one of the wealthiest bankers in the county […]

   1840, Henry Downes Miles, Dick Turpin

   'Safe? Fiddlesticks! There is no safe. Mr Lavington is an intelligent man. You will see, he will have devised a hiding-place much more intelligent than a safe. A safe is the first thing everyone looks for.'

   1923 October 6, Agatha Christie, “The Case of the Veiled Lady”, in The Sketch, number 1601

   ‘He wants to go in the boats.’ ‘Boats, fiddlesticks!’ Sarah scowled.

   1961, Tom Mead, Killers of Eden, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 167

   “Fiddlesticks,” Miss Jenny said. “The war just gave John a good excuse to get himself killed. If it hadn’t been that, it would have been some other way that would have been a bother to everybody around.”

   1964 [1929], William Faulkner, Sartoris (The Collected Works of William Faulkner), London: Chatto & Windus, page 23

   Synonyms: bullshit

2. euphemisticnow sometimes specifically interpreted as a euphemism for 'fuck'Darn! Expresses mild dismay or annoyance.

   Oh, fiddlesticks! I locked my keys in the car.

   Synonyms: dammit

alternative dated fiddlestick

1. pluralplural of fiddlestick