hack around

To be idle; to waste time; to socialize.

Verb

  1. To be idle; to waste time; to socialize.
    • “Gosh! Just think, maybe we walked over him a couple of times when we were hacking around in the woods. Gives you a spooky feeling, doesn’t it?” - 1971, Jay Williams, chapter 5, in The Hawkstone, page 45:
    • When Mom and Dad went back to work, I was mostly home alone again after school. Willy came over a lot and we just hacked around doing stuff—playing video games or tossing the football out back. - 1993, David Boyd,...
    • I’m the boss and the guys know it. But they also know they can hack around a bit or take a ten-minute break without getting shouted at. In fact if they didn’t hack around a bit I’d never have hired them. - 2016, Luke...

    Synonyms: hack about

Forms

hacks around hacking around hacked around