fiddlebow

English

Etymology

From fiddle +‎ bow.

Noun

fiddlebow (plural fiddlebows)

1. A bow used to play the fiddle.

   Synonym: fiddlestick

   • 1910, Madison Cawein, “The Shadow Garden, A Phantasy”, in The Shadow Garden (A Phantasy) and Other Plays, New York, N.Y., London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, The Knickerbocker Press, scene II, page 30:

     Some day some Gnome will steal his fiddlebow, / Or crack the stretched strings of his violin, / And hang him with them from thy windowed leaves / For all thy Flowers to gape at.

   • 1951, William Manchester, “The Free Lance”, in Disturber of the Peace: The Life of H. L. Mencken, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], page 44:

     Twice they have fought with harps, fiddlebows, and chair legs.

   • 1950s, Donald Davidson, “We Make the Future Farmers Weep”, in The Big Ballad Jamboree: A Novel, Jackson, Miss.: University Press of Mississippi, published 1996, →ISBN, page 41:

     The crowd boiled up with shouts. Rufus had ’em going, for sure. But he held them down with a wave of his fiddlebow. He pointed the fiddlebow right at Carlos B. Reddy and sounded off: […]

References

• “fiddle-bow, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.