futz

futz (one)

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

futz around

1. slang To engage in aimless recreation or frivolous time-wasting; to fool around. I can't believe we spent the whole day just futzing around.
2. slang 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!
See also: futz, up

futz with (something)

1. slang To engage in aimless recreation or frivolous time-wasting; to fool around. I can't believe we spent the whole day just futzing with the TV.
2. 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 with that old radio, but I doubt he'll get it to work again.
See also: futz

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

1. slang To engage in aimless recreation or frivolous time-wasting; to fool around. I can't believe we spent the whole day just putzing around.
2. slang To play or tinker with something. Hey, don't putz around with the thermostat—it needs to stay at 68 degrees. Grandpa's still putzing around with that old radio, but I doubt he'll get it to work again.
See also: around, putz
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

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.
See also: futz, up

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.
See also: around, putz
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

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.

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.
See also: 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.
See also: futz
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.

futz something up

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

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.
See also: around, putz

futz around

verb
See putz around
See also: around, futz
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • futz (one)
  • put a con on (one)
  • put a con on someone
  • play (one) false
  • play false
  • play someone false
  • see (one) coming
  • see somebody coming
  • see someone coming
  • sucker into
References in periodicals archive
AF: Let's move to the era of Futz, your play that became a film.
Interview with Rochelle Owens
I'll futz around in my office upstairs on my computer, answer e-mails from friends.
A High-Profile Debut: Aaron Brown had barely started at CNN when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center. He's been a constant on-air presence ever since as the news network's lead anchor
While the feds futz with new regulations for Web site accessibility, the private sector actually does something about it.
Balance Sheet
Imagine the damage I could do to this magazine if I had another 1,000 years to futz around with it!
Cloning: think of the possibilities
They don't stop to futz with phrasing or move paragraphs, and writer's block never brings them up short.
Prewriting
Tom O'Horgan, whose work Rado and Ragni admired, was their first choice as a director, but he was committed to a European tour of his show Futz! Joseph Chaikin, the head of the Open Theater, was also considered before Papp finally enlisted Freedman to direct the show for the Public.
The roots of 'hair': how the scrappy hippie musical survived creative tumult and turnover--and a disastrous uptown transfer--to take on Broadway and the world
So Bill and John, I'm getting older, I could die at any moment, and if I do, I will not give either one of you a moment's peace if you futz around with my all-time favorite chocolate.
Dear Bill and John: don't futz with the chocolate
You learn the basics of how to ride, make mistakes, learn some more, futz around.
Precious dangers: the lessons of the motorcycle
The theater was founded in 1968 by Jim Garrard and instantly sprang into the limelight with a production of the Off Broadway show "Futz" by Rochelle Owens.
Is there life after 40? Vintage Toronto theater struggles to survive
Don't futz around trying to fit protective eyewear over your regular reading glasses.
Magnetic bit rack
(And as coincidence will have it, playing concurrently with Roundabout's revival of The Homecoming was a reconstruction at nearby La Mama ETC of Tom O'Horgan's production of Rochelle Owens's Futz, which also originally played in New York in 1967.) But the physical concreteness of The Homecoming was very different from the sort of physicality that informed the work of O'Horgan, the Living Theater, the Open Theater or the Performance Group.
A Pinter puzzle still unsolved
Stefano later wrote the 1969 thriller "Eye of the Cat" and co-wrote the comedy "Futz!" with Rochelle Owens.
Joseph Stefano
Marenzi also had to futz with the integration of the Spelling and Rysher libraries and handle the personnel issues connected to these takeovers; for his part, Nunez has managed to work well with King World's larger-than-life boss Roger King and get the Eye involved in the global format biz.
TV retrenching leaves vet behind
I futzed with my car's GPS, but it couldn't even locate me, let alone tell me where to go.
Frankenstorm
She glances at the instructions and futzes around for a few minutes with the items, which to me now horridly look as if they'd been airdropped by extraterrestrial drones--she then fits them together just right!
The curse of knowledge--the blessing of Pinker