Fiddle

noun

An instrument to tickle human ears by friction of a horse's tail on the entrails of a cat.

    To Rome said Nero: "If to smoke you turn
    I shall not cease to fiddle while you burn."
    To Nero Rome replied: "Pray do your worst,
    'Tis my excuse that you were fiddling first."

        Orm Pludge


—Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary