Obs. exc. dial. See also FIG v.3 [Of obscure origin; the sense closely resembles that of FIKE, but etymological connection is hardly possible, unless the form has undergone onomatopœic modification. Cf. Ger. ficken to move about briskly.]

1

  1.  intr. To move about restlessly or uneasily; also, to fidge about, abroad, to and fro. Of a limb: To twitch.

2

1575.  J. Still, Gamm. Gurton, I. iv., in Hazl., Dodsley, III. 184. Where ha’ you been fidging abroad, since you your nee’le lost?

3

1577.  Breton, Wks. Young Wit (T).

        And some [dame] would fidge, as though she had the itch;
  And some would bow half crooked in the joints;
And some would have a trick; and some a twitch;
  Some shook their arms, as they had hung up points.

4

1667.  Dryden, Maiden Queen, III. i. Flo. What is it, that makes you fidge up and down so?

5

1700.  Congreve, Way of World, v. 77. The good Judge tickl’d with the Proceeding, simpers under a Grey Beard, and fidges off and on his Cushion as if he had swallow’d Cantharides, or sate upon Cow-Itch.

6

1728.  Swift, Mullinix & Timothy.

        You wriggle, fidge, and make a rout,
Put all your brother puppets out,
Run on in a perpetual round,
To teaze, perplex, disturb, confound.

7

1786.  Burns, The Ordination, i.

        Kilmarnock wabsters fidge an’ claw,
  An’ pour your creeshie nations;
An’ ye wha leather rax an’ draw,
  Of a’ denominations.

8

1883.  Stevenson, Treasure Isl., I. iii. (1886), 20. ‘Look, Jim, how my fingers fidges.’

9

  b.  To be eager and restless. To fidge fu’ fain: (Sc.) to express pleasurable eagerness by restless movements.

10

1785.  Burns, To W. Simpson, vi.

        Auld Coila, now, may fidge fu’ fain,
She’s gotten Poets o’ her ain.
    Ibid. (1790), Tam O’Shanter, 185.
Even Satan glowr’d and fidg’d fu’ fain,
And hotch’d and blew wi’ might and main.

11

1803.  R. Anderson, Cumberld. Ball., 57.

        The barn and the byre, and the auld hollow tree,
Will just seem like cronies yen’s fidgin to see.

12

  2.  trans. To twitch, shrug, rare.

13

1786.  Burns, Prayer to Sc. Representatives, vi.

        Ne’er claw your lug, an’ fidge your back,
            And hum an’ haw;
But raise your arm, and tell your crack
            Before them a’.

14

  Hence Fidging vbl. sb.

15

1604.  T. M., Black Bk., Middleton’s Wks. V. 525. The fidging of gallants to Norfolk and up and down countries.

16

a. 1734.  North, Exam., II. v. § 124 (1740), 392. It was by their perpetual fidging about from Place to Place.

17