Meaning
Engaged in small-scale dishonesty, especially fiddling expenses or quietly cheating an employer or the system; on the make. Chiefly British and informal, with an undertone of roguery rather than serious crime; often said of inflated expense claims, undeclared perks, or workplace scams. Informal and British; implies petty fraud rather than major crime, often with a hint of grudging admiration. Regional use: Chiefly British English.
Origin
The honest answer is that the origin is unascertained. The slang sense of fiddle as a swindle or fraud is old: Green's Dictionary of Slang records the noun from 1841 and cites 'on the fiddle' (earlier 'at the fiddle') meaning cheating or living dishonestly first in 1930, in a memoir of the 1910s-20s underworld. A much-repeated naval story instead derives the phrase from the fiddle, the raised rim or frame on a sailor's plate that kept food from sliding in a seaway; a sailor whose food piled above the rim was supposedly 'on the fiddle', taking more than his share. The tableware genuinely is called a fiddle, but lexicographers treat the derivation as folklore: Michael Quinion dismisses such tour-guide tales as inventive, and the same square-plate story is also falsely used to explain 'square meal'. Fiddler's Green, the legendary sailor's paradise first recorded in 1825, is a separate nautical term with no etymological connection.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- at the fiddle
- fiddle the books
- fiddling expenses
- on a bit of a fiddle
Usage Examples
- Half the office suspected the purchasing manager was on the fiddle.
- He was dismissed for fiddling his travel expenses.
- The inquiry found the charity's books had been fiddled for years.