prat about

English

prat about (third-person singular simple present prats about, present participle pratting about, simple past and past participle pratted about)

(informal) To waste time doing pointless or silly things
What are you pratting about with now? Get your homework done.
(informal) To fail to do something correctly, and so consider the time to be wasted.
I spent the weekend pratting about with the central heating and got absolutely nowhere with it!