ppl. a. Sc. [f. FIDGE v. + -ING2.] That ‘fidges,’ restless, fidgety.
1637. Abp. J. Williams, Holy Table, 60. Trie whether he be as strong and manly, as he is fidging and slippery in his Refutation.
1721. J. Kelly, Scot. Prov., 8. A fidging Mare should be well girded. A cunning tricky Fellow should not be trusted without great caution.
1821. Blackw. Mag., VIII. March, 619.
| The fidging Prentices, their elbows claw, | |
| And speak their triumph in a loud guffāā. |
1862. Hislop, Prov. Scot. (1868), 20. A fidging mare should be weel girded.—‘A thief does not always steal, but always be on your guard against him.’—Russian.
b. In phr. fidging fain, eager to restlessness or discomfort. Const. to with inf.
a. 1700[?]. Maggie Lauder, in Songs of Scot. (1851), II. 111.
| Maggie, quo’ he, and by my bags, | |
| I’m fidgin’ fain to see thee. |
1785. Burns, Ep. to J. Lapraik, v.
| It pat me fidgin-fain to hear’t, | |
| And sae about him there I spier’t. |
1826. J. Wilson, Noct. Ambr., Wks. 1855, I. 322. The playactress that appears to the people in the pit a’ fidgin fain to see her sparkling in spangles afore the lamps.
1892. in Northumb. Gloss.
