horse around

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horse around

1. (intransitive, idiomatic) To fiddle or play; to clown; to do nothing of consequence or importance.

   Can we quit horsing around and get some work done?

   Stop horsing around with the controls, before you break something.

   • 2014 June 26, A. A. Dowd, “Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler Spoof Rom-com Clichés in They Came Together”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 7 December 2017:

     As Norah Jones coos sweet nothings on the soundtrack, the happy couple—played by Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler—canoodle through a Manhattan montage, making pasta for two, swimming through a pile of autumn leaves, and horsing around at a fruit stand.

• (behave clownishly, idly): act out, clown around, goof off, muck about, muck around, muck up, yuk it up

• horseplay