Meanings
fimble1
present singular third person fimbles · participle present fimbling · participle past fimbled · past fimbled
- dialectalintransitiveTo fumble; do (anything) imperfectly or irresolutely.
fimble2
Origin
fimble · noun
- French(chanvre)
- Middle Dutchfemele
- Englishfimble
From Middle Dutch femele, fimele (“cannabis brevior”), from fimelen (“to tease: flax, hemp, wool, etc.; to move quickly, fiddle, play, trifle”) (whence Dutch fijmelen, femelen), related to Middle Low German fimmelen, fimmeren (“to grope about”), German fimmeln (“to grope; fumble”), West Frisian fimelje (“to pick; fiddle' trifle”), English fimble (“to fumble”). Alternatively, it is sometimes suggested that Middle Dutch femele is from French (chanvre) femelle (“female (hemp)”), which was applied to the male hemp plant as it is smaller and was therefore believed to be female; this would parallel the old designation of the larger, female plant as carl-hemp (“man-hemp”).
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Cite this entry
fimble. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fimble
“fimble.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fimble. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fimble,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fimble.
Source: fimble on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.