Verb
fidget (third-person singular simple present fidgets, present participle fidgeting or fidgetting, simple past and past participle fidgeted or fidgetted)
- (intransitive) To wiggle or twitch; to move the body, especially the fingers, around nervously or idly.
1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:"Look, Jim, how my fingers fidget," he continued, in the pleading tone. "I can't keep e'm still, not I."
1993, Mike Leigh, Naked, spoken by Johnny (David Thewlis):Will you stop fucking about and fidgeting in my peripherals? I'm trying to concentrate.
- (transitive) To cause to fidget; to make uneasy.
1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], chapter 1, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:“Do I fidget you ?” he asked apologetically, whilst his long bony fingers buried themselves, string, knots, and all, into the capacious pockets of his magnificent tweed ulster.
Translations
to move around nervously
- Afrikaans: vroetel (af)
- Bulgarian: шавам (bg) (šavam), въртя се (vǎrtja se)
- Catalan: bellugar-se (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 坐立不安 (zh) (zuòlìbù'ān)
- Dutch: friemelen (nl), de kriebels hebben
- Esperanto: svingiĝi
- Estonian: nihelema
- Finnish: sätkiä (fi), sätkytellä (fi), nykiä (fi), nytkiä
- French: gigoter (fr), remuer (fr)
- German: zappeln (de), herumzappeln
- Hungarian: fészkelődik (hu), izeg-mozog (hu), babrál (hu), mocorog (hu)
- Irish: bheith corrthónach, bheith giongach, bheith míshocair
- Japanese: せかせかする
- Korean: 안절부절못하다 (ko) (anjeolbujeolmothada)
- Maori: oreore, mānānana, irirangi
- Norwegian: sprelle
- Portuguese: estar inquieto
- Romanian: a se foi
- Russian: ёрзать (ru) (jórzatʹ), верте́ться (ru) (vertétʹsja)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: врпо̀љити се
- Roman: vrpòljiti se (sh)
- Spanish: revolverse (es)
- Tagalog: kuyakoy (tl)
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Noun
fidget (plural fidgets)
- A nervous wriggling or twitching motion.
- (informal) A person who fidgets, especially habitually.
- Synonym: fidgeter
- An object intended to be fidgeted with (such as a tool or toy).