spin wheels

spin your wheels (American, informal)

to waste time doing things that achieve nothing. If we're just spinning our wheels, let us know and we'll quit. (often in continuous tenses)

See also: spin, wheel

---

spin (your) wheels

to use a lot of effort but not get anything done. For almost an hour now he had been spinning his wheels, accomplishing nothing. Seattle was spinning wheels while Texas beat New York to take a two-game lead in the division.

See also: spin, wheel

---

spin your wheels

to waste time doing something that is not effective. For almost an hour he had been spinning his wheels on the telephone when he could have fixed the problem himself in less than hour.

See also: spin, wheel