Fit as a Fiddle Meaning
Definition: To be in fantastic health.
This idiom is used as an adjective phrase to describe a healthy person.
Origin of Fit as a Fiddle
Nowadays, fit means healthy. However, in the past fit meant fitting, as in something that is well suited for a particular purpose.
Fiddle means violin, but in the past, it also had the connotation of being something very positive. Therefore, in the past, comparing something to a fiddle was a way to compliment it.
The expression fit as a fiddle was a way to say that something was correct or proper. It first started appearing around the year 1600. Over time, the meaning changed to its current form today.
Examples of Fit as a Fiddle
In the below example, two high school students use the idiom to talk about their New Year’s resolutions.
Lisa: I’m going to start dieting and exercising more. Maybe you should do the same.
Jackie: Why? I’m fit as a fiddle!
Lisa: You may feel healthy, but if you never exercise, your health won’t last forever.
Jackie: I’ll consider it.
In this example, a man who thinks he is a great sports player is confronted with a different reality.
Seth: I can’t believe that I was the last one chosen to be on the team!
Jimmy: It was probably just bad luck.
Seth: I’ve been the last one chosen every week for the past two years.
Jimmy: Oh, then maybe not.
Seth: At first, I thought if I worked out more people would see that I was fit as a fiddle, and then choose me.
Jimmy: Did they?
Seth: Nope.
Jimmy: Well, being healthy and being good at sports are two different things.
Seth: That’s not really helping.
More Examples
In this example of the expression, a man who is 105 years old describes his health as he prepares to enter
a race.
- “The doctors gave me a medical examination a couple of days ago and I’m fit as a fiddle,” he told AFP. –USA Today
In our second excerpt, a woman describes her perceived health before she had a stroke.
- “I’m too young to be having a stroke,” I thought. I hadn’t even been to the hospital before. I was 40 years old, a lifelong dancer, fit as a fiddle — and a model. Strokes were for chain-smoking men in their 70s. –New York Post
Summary
The phrase fit as a fiddle is another way to describe someone who is in excellent health.
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