futz

(redirected from futzed)
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Related to futzed: putzed

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futz (around) with (something)

slang To play or tinker with something. Hey, don't futz with the thermostat—it needs to stay at 68 degrees. Grandpa's still futzing around with that old radio, but I doubt he'll get it to work again.

futz (one)

To deceive or swindle one. That guy is definitely futzing you, boss—I just watched him pocket money from the cash register.

futz around

slang

1. To engage in aimless recreation or frivolous time-wasting; to fool around. I can't believe we wasted the whole day just futzing around the house. Quit futzing around and work on your book report already, Scotty!

2. To play or tinker (with something). Hey, don't futz around with the thermostat—it needs to stay at 68 degrees. Grandpa's still futzing around with that old radio, but I doubt he'll get it to work again.

See also: around, futz

futz up

To bungle something or cause problems. A noun or pronoun can be used between "futz" and "up." If you're the one who futzed up the printer, then help me clear this paper jam. Mom wasn't going to punish me, but you futzed it all up when you opened your big mouth about how I got home past curfew last night!

phutz

1. To waste time aimlessly or uselessly; to loaf or procrastinate. A variant spelling of "futz," typically followed by "with (something)" or "around." Stop phutzing with that old radio, and do your chores like I asked you! We were supposed to be working on our essays, but we just phutzed around for most of the day.

2. To deceive or swindle someone or some group. A variant spelling of "futz." That guy is definitely phutzing you, boss—I just watched him pocket money from the cash register. If you think you can phutz the government and get away with it, you've got another think coming!

putz around

slang To engage in aimless recreation or frivolous time-wasting; to fool around. I can't believe we wasted the whole day just putzing around the house. Quit putzing around and work on your book report already, Scotty!

futz around

Sl. to waste time. Stop futzing around and get the job done. I wish you would stop futzing around!

See also: around, futz

Futz something up

Sl. to mess something up. Who futzed the computer up? I don't want to futz up the deal, so I will be quiet.

putz around

Inf. to fiddle around; to mess around. Stop some time puzzling over her. While I was puzzling over putzing around and get to work. Those guys spend most why she had slapped me, she did it again, of their time just putzing around.

futz around

Also, futz with. Waste time or effort on frivolities, play around. For example, He spent all morning futzing around with the report, or No more futzing with the car-we have to go now. This term may be a shortening and corruption of the Yiddish arumfartzen, for "fart around." [Slang; 1920s]

See also: around, futz

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

futz around

v. Slang

1. To act foolishly, playfully, or without a clear sense of purpose; goof off: The kids were futzing around so much that they didn't finish their chores.

2. To manipulate something without a clear sense of purpose: Stop futzing around with the door handle, or you'll break it.

See also: around, futz

futz up

v. Slang

To fail at or make a mess of something: I read the speech as well as I could, but I futzed it up. We futzed up the trip because we got lost. Don't drink before going onstage—you'll futz up.

futz with

v. Slang

To manipulate something without a clear sense of purpose: The child futzed with the toy, and then it broke.

futz something up

tv. to mess something up. I don’t want to futz up the deal, so I will be quiet.

phutz

and futz (fəts)

tv. to rob, swindle, or cheat someone. Don’t futz me! Tell the truth!

futz

verb

See phutz

putz around

and futz around

in. to waste time; to do something ineffectually. (Putz is probably putz (sense 1).) Get busy and stop putzing around.

futz around

verb

See putz around

See also: around, futz

See also:

References in periodicals archive ?

Amid spells of weeping his mother made them matzo and sour-cream sandwiches and gave him to understand "how the army had fixed and futzed his father.

From Teitlebaum's Window

After installing the 2Bs in the listening room, I kept the subwoofer turned off, and put on something for Carousel Corner while I futzed with their placement and so on.

PSB image 2B loudspeaker. (Equipment)

The company has tweaked and futzed and finagled with the Expo concept for more than a decade, and it's just now ramping up its expansion plans.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME (DEPOT)

On Christmas Eve our office closed at 1 p.m., but my single or divorced colleagues lingered and futzed, postponing the annual departmental drink.

Christmas promises hope beyond the pain

It has dual-fuel versatility, and anyone who has futzed around putting matches to mantle will like the lantern's push-button ignition.

Stuff for your sack

For three years, Grubbs and O'Rourke have constantly futzed the musical boundaries of the hybrid genre of "innovation," one they seem to spontaneously reinvent; the band specializes above all in bringing together sources as disparate as rock, folk, and contemporary experimental music (especially Cage), as well as Satie, Stravinsky, atonal music, and the found noises of the street and the apartment.