mess around

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 about and go and buy one...

[V P with n] Boys and girls will enjoy messing about with any kind of machine.

2) PHRASAL VERB If you say that someone is messing around with or messing about with something, you mean that they are interfering with it in a harmful way.

[V P with n] I'd like to know who's been messing about with the pram.

3) PHRASAL VERB If someone is messing around or messing about, they are behaving in a joking or silly way.

[V P] I thought she was messing about.

Syn:
4) PHRASAL VERB If you mess someone around or mess them about, you treat them badly, for example by not being honest with them, or by continually changing plans which affect them. [mainly BRIT]

[V n P] Davison had pulled out of a move to his old club because they had `messed him about'...

[V n P] I think they've been messed around far too much.


English dictionary. 2008.

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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 — 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]… …   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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