FIDFAD ADJ. 1. frivolous, fussy, petty ...1830 2. insignificant; trivial; worthless ...Bk1942 Am. sl. NOUN 1. one who gives fussy attention to trifles; one who is over-nice and particular; a fastidious person ...1754 2. a petty matter of detail, a crotchet, a trifle ...1875 3. a slow pace ...Bk1900 Eng. dial. VERB to go slowly; to waste time; to fuss, to trifle, to potter about ...Bk1875 Eng. dial. ETYMOLOGY short for fiddle-faddle (n. adj. & int.) FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1754 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...The eldest of my cousins is a very jolly free-hearted girl, and so great an enemy to all kinds of form, that you seldom see her with so much as a pin in her gown; while the youngest, who thinks in her heart that her sister is no better than a slattern, runs into the contrary extreme, and is, in everything she does, an absolute fidfad. She takes up almost as much time to put on a gown, as her sister does to dirty one..." From: The World No. 95. Thursday, October 24, 1754 :To Mr. Fitz-Adam." Edited by Edward Moore
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