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Definition of Mess around
1. Verb. Do random, unplanned work or activities or spend time idly. "The old lady is usually mucking about in her little house"
Specialized synonyms: Puddle
Generic synonyms: Work
Derivative terms: Potterer, Putterer, Tinker, Tinkerer, Tinkerer
Definition of Mess around
1. Verb. (idiomatic) To fiddle idly. ¹
2. Verb. (idiomatic) To joke, kid, or play. ¹
3. Verb. (idiomatic) To have a sexual relationship, especially one which is non-commital. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Lexicographical Neighbors of Mess Around
Literary usage of Mess around
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Teaching Adolescent Writers by Kelly Gallagher (2006)
"Murray notes, "Writing is a skill, and students need to mess around with paints
before they learn how to paint, plunk at a piano before they are taught ..."
2. Red Men of the Ohio Valley: An Aboriginal History of the Period Commencing A by Jacob Richards Dodge (1860)
"... four fires were made for cooking: that is, one for each mess. Around these
fires, till sleeping time arrived, the company spent their time in the most ..."
3. Out West: A Magazine of the Old Pacific and the New by Charles Fletcher Lummis, Archaeological Institute of America Southwest Society, Sequoya League (1908)
""I'm goin' to stay to home today, an' I can't set down an' study with a mess
around me. I don't care what this place looks like when I'm off in the hills. ..."
4. The Second War with England by Joel Tyler Headley (1853)
"A single bucket, only, containing the food, was allowed to a mess, around which
they gathered with the avidity of starving men, and each with his wooden ..."
5. Historical Collections of Ohio: An Encyclopedia of the State ; History Both by Henry Howe (1891)
"... mess. Around these fires, till sleeping-time arrived, the company spent their
time in the most social glee, singing songs and telling stories. ..."
6. A History of Adams County, Ohio: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present by Nelson Wiley Evans, Emmons Buchanan Stivers (1900)
""When night came, four fires were made for cooking; that is, one for each mess.
Around these fires, till sleeping time arrived, the company spent their time ..."
7. Technology In The Classroom: Panacea Or Pandora's Box? Hearing Before The edited by Constance A. Morella (1999)
"... of their own learning, where they are responsible for the material, where they
can save it, mess around with it, fool around with it, play with it. ..."
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