fiddle

a face as long as a fiddle: seeface.

fiddle while Rome burns be concerned with relatively trivial matters while ignoring the serious or disastrous events going on around you.

☞ This phrase comes from the Roman biographer and historian Suetonius' description of the behaviour of the Roman emperor Nero during the great fire that destroyed much of Rome in ad 64.

fit as a fiddle in very good health.

hang up your fiddle retire from business; give up an undertaking. chiefly US

hang up your fiddle when you come home cease to be cheerful or entertaining when you are in the company of your family. chiefly US

on the fiddle engaged in cheating or swindling. informal

☞ Fiddle was late 19th-century US slang for a 'swindle'.

play second fiddle to take a subordinate role to someone or something.

☞ The expression derives from the respective roles of the fiddles or violins in an orchestra. Both play first fiddle and play third fiddle are much less common. The implication of playing second fiddle is often that it is somewhat demeaning.

1998Times In A Yank at Oxford she played second fiddle to Vivien Leigh, which never got anyone very far.

there's many a good tune played on an old fiddle: seetune.