fidget

A nervous wriggling or twitching motion.

Noun

  1. A nervous wriggling or twitching motion.
  2. A person who fidgets, especially habitually.

    Synonyms: fidgeter

  3. An object, such as a tool or toy, intended to be fidgeted with.
  4. Short for fidget house.

Origin

From fidge (“to fidget”) + *-et (frequentative ending), possibly from Middle English *-ten, from Old English -ettan.

Forms

fidgets

Derived

fidget pie fidget spinner fidget-spinning fidget stone fidget toy fidgety

Verb

  1. To wiggle or twitch; to move the body, especially the fingers, around nervously or idly.
    • "Look, Jim, how my fingers fidget," he continued, in the pleading tone. "I can't keep e'm still, not I." - 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November...
    • Will you stop fucking about and fidgeting in my peripherals? I'm trying to concentrate. - 1993, Mike Leigh, Naked, spoken by Johnny (David Thewlis):
  2. To cause to fidget; to make uneasy.
    • “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. - 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma...

Forms

fidgets fidgeting fidgetting fidgeted fidgetted

Derived

fidget-bottom fidgeter fidgetin fidgetingly fidgetsome unfidgeting