fit as a fiddle

Unknown; possibly alliterative.

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪt æz ə ˈfɪdl̩/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: fit as a fid‧dle

fit as a fiddle (not comparable)

1. (simile, colloquial) Perfectly fit; in excellent condition or health.
   • 1598, [William Haughton], English-men for My Money: Or, a Pleasant Comedy, Called, A Woman will Haue Her Will‎, London: Imprinted at London by W[illiam] White, dwelling in Cow-lane, published 1616, OCLC 867298173:

     This is excellent ynfayth, as fit as a Fiddle: […]

   • 1915 September 3, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter 2, in Something New (Project Gutenberg; EBook #2042)‎, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, published 6 September 2008 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 504795405:

     You wake up, feeling as fit as a fiddle; you look at the window and see the sun, and thank Heaven for a fine day.

   • 2008 April 10, Alexander Jung; Christoph Pauly, “Crashing the party of Icelandic prosperity”, in Spiegel Online‎, archived from the original on 8 January 2015:

     Icelanders will assure you that their economy is really as fit as a fiddle, and it is true that the country does produce a tidy budget surplus.

• fit as a butcher's dog
• fit as a flea
• in fine fettle
• right as a trivet
• sound as a bell
• sound in wind and limb

• “be (as) fit as a fiddle” in Colin McIntosh, editor, Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 4th edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013, →ISBN; reproduced on the Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, retrieved 14 February 2017.
• “As fit as a fiddle” in Gary Martin, The Phrase Finder, 1997–, retrieved 14 February 2017.