fiddler n
   1 Musician who performs for a dance (on an accordion).
   1966 SCAMMELL 85-6 In the center of the floor on a raised platform sat the fiddler, who was really an accordion player. 1967 Bk of Nfld iv, 236 A fiddler would perch himself on a chair on top of a table in the centre of the hall and for $5 play all night, beating time with his feet and bathed in perspiration. The instrument was not a fiddle but an accordion but nevertheless he was called the fiddler. T 411/12-67 We had to head up socials, and on several occasions I acted as fiddler for them—I played the accordion. 1973 ROSE (ed) 31 Before many more years had passed I had put two and two together and figured out that this noise was coming from the fiddler who was playing an accordion. He was always called the fiddler regardless of what he played upon. Even a rack comb and tissue paper.
   2 Phr have the fiddlers: to stagger.
   M 68-26 Sometimes after carrying the bar [barrow] for possibly an hour, a person might begin to stagger with the weight. The men said that man had the fiddlers. This meant that he couldn't carry the loaded bar with a steady walk.

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