From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmess around (also mess about British English) phrasal verb informal1 LAZYto spend time lazily, doing things slowly and in a way that is not planned He spent his vacation messing around on the farm.2 BEHAVEto behave in a silly way when you should be paying attention or doing something sensible SYN fool around Stop messing around and get ready for school.3 PROBLEM mess somebody around to cause a lot of problems for someone, especially by changing your mind often and not being completely honest Don’t mess me around – I want the money you promised me. → mess→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
mess around• Stop messing around and pay attention!• Paul blew off his fingers messing around with homemade rockets. 