[f. FIDDLE sb. + HEAD.]
1. Naut. The ornamental carving at the bows of a vessel, the termination of which is a scroll turning aft or inward like the head of a violin.
1799. Naval Chron., I. App. Present State of the Royal Navy, Neptune.… The fiddle-head, as it is termed, or billet-head, had but a bad effect.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, xli. I hope Captain O’Brien will take off her fiddle-head, and get one carved.
2. A local name for a young fern frond.
1882. J. Hardy, in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club, IX. 563. Young fern fronds—‘fiddle-heads,’ as they are named—are greedily devoured as substitutes for green vegetables, to which the residents have been strangers for many months.
3. A head as empty as a fiddle.
1887. W. F. Anstey, Mr. Pulvertoft’s Equestrian Experiences, in Macm. Mag., LV. Feb., 262/2. He hasn’t two ideas in his great fiddle-head.
