to behave in a silly way, especially when you should be working or paying attention to something
to have sex or a sexual relationship with someone, especially when you should not
to spend time doing things in a relaxed way
to treat someone badly, especially by changing your mind or by not doing what you promised
to try to change or repair something, especially when this is unnecessary or unsuccessful
to waste time doing things that are not important
Diane’s been messing around with a married man.
He’ll spend hours messing about with that motorbike.
Stop messing about – I’m serious about this!
There’s no point messing about. Let’s start now.
They don’t mess about, do they? I ordered the book yesterday and it’s already come.
We spent the weekend messing about on John’s boat.
messes about
messing about
messed about
There is no origin for this phrasal verb
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