1
general::
Phrase(s): screw someone around
Inf. to harass or bother someone. • Don’t screw me around, man! I bite back! • Max got tired of being screwed around by Lefty., Phrase(s): screw around
1. Inf. to mess around; to waste time. • Stop screwing around and get to work! • I’m not screwing around, I’m thinking. 2. Inf. to play sexually; to indulge in sexual intercourse. • A few couples were screwing around at the party. • They say that Ted and Alice are screwing around a lot.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
2
general::
1. Fool around aimlessly, accomplishing nothing, as in If you boys would stop screwing around we'd have the fence painted in an hour. It is Also put as screw around with, as in Stop screwing around with the new camera. The idiom probably derives from screw in the sense of "turn" or "twist." [Slang; second half of 1900s] 2. Be sexually promiscuous, as in He's been screwing around behind her back for years. [Vulgar slang; first half of 1900s]
American Heritage Idioms