Etymology From fidge (“to fidget”) + *-et (frequentative ending), possibly from Middle English *-ten, from Old English -ettan.
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 1883, →OCLC:
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 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: