fit as a fiddle

Unknown; possibly alliterative.

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

• Audio (General Australian):

  (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^[1], London: Imprinted at London by W[illiam] White, dwelling in Cow-lane, published 1616, →OCLC:

     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)‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, published 6 September 2008 (Project Gutenberg version), →OCLC:

     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^[3], 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

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