mess around

mess around
phrasal verb mess about or mess around
Word forms "mess about":
present tense I/you/we/they mess about he/she/it messes about present participle messing about past tense messed about past participle messed about British informal
1) [intransitive] to behave in a silly way, especially when you should be working or paying attention to something

Stop messing about – I'm serious about this!

2) [intransitive] to spend time doing things in a relaxed way

We spent the weekend messing about on John's boat.

3) mess someone about
[transitive] to treat someone badly, especially by changing your mind or by not doing what you promised
4) [intransitive] to waste time doing things that are not important

There's no point messing about. Let's start now.

not mess about:

They don't mess about, do they? I ordered the book yesterday and it's already come.

5) [intransitive] to try to change or repair something, especially when this is unnecessary or unsuccessful
mess about with:

He'll spend hours messing about with that motorbike.

6) [intransitive] to have sex or a sexual relationship with someone, especially when you should not
mess about with:

Diane's been messing around with a married man.


English dictionary. 2014.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • mess around — {v. phr.} 1. To engage in idle or purposeless activity. * /Come on, you guys, start doing some work, don t just mess around all day!/ 2. {vulgar} To be promiscuous; to indulge in sex with little discrimination as to who the partner is. * /Allen… …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • mess around — {v. phr.} 1. To engage in idle or purposeless activity. * /Come on, you guys, start doing some work, don t just mess around all day!/ 2. {vulgar} To be promiscuous; to indulge in sex with little discrimination as to who the partner is. * /Allen… …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • Mess Around — Single par Ray Charles Sortie 1953 Durée 2 min et 40 s Genre Blues Mess Around fut l un des premiers grands succès de Ray Charles. Elle a été écrite par Ahmet Ertegün, fon …   Wikipédia en Français

  • mess around — [v] fiddle; goof off amuse oneself, dabble, dawdle, doodle, fool around, loiter, muck around*, play, play around, play the fool*, potter, puddle, putter, tinker, trifle; concepts 87,363 Ant. labor, toil, work …   New thesaurus

  • Mess Around — Mess Around  сингл Рэя Чарльза, один из первых его синглов, получивших признание среди широкой публики. Автор песни  Ахмед Эртегун, президент и основатель «Atlantic Records». При написании песни он использовал текст популярной в… …   Википедия

  • Mess Around — For a definition of the verb mess around , see the Wiktionary entry mess around. Mess Around Single by Ray Charles Released June 19, 1953 Format 7 45rpm …   Wikipedia

  • mess around — (in BRIT, also use mess about) 1) PHRASAL VERB If you mess around or mess about, you spend time doing things without any particular purpose or without achieving anything. [V P] We were just messing around playing with paint... [V P] Stop messing… …   English dictionary

  • Mess around — Este artículo o sección necesita referencias que aparezcan en una publicación acreditada, como revistas especializadas, monografías, prensa diaria o páginas de Internet fidedignas. Puedes añadirlas así o avisar …   Wikipedia Español

  • mess around — to waste time doing something without a particular purpose. The kids were just messing around at the mall. Usage notes: often used in the not mess around to act with a serious purpose: Being a federal agent on the track of terrorists, Matt doesn… …   New idioms dictionary

  • mess around — v. (colloq.) (AE) (D; intr.) to mess around with * * * (colloq.) (AE) (D; intr.) to mess around with …   Combinatory dictionary

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