to zarking around
- phrasal verb
- Slang
:
hacer el tonto
- The kids were zarking around in the backyard instead of doing their homework.
Examples
-
Stop zarking around and help me clean up this mess!
-
She got annoyed when her colleagues kept zarking around during the important conference call.
-
Stop zarking around and get to work!
-
Why are you zarking around instead of studying?
-
She got annoyed when her colleagues kept zarking around during the important conference call.
-
The kids were zarking around in the backyard instead of doing their homework.
-
Stop zarking around and help me clean up this mess!
Synonyms
111
4.1
To spend time doing playful or unplanned activities
88
2.1
Act in a foolish or playful way without taking things seriously
47
3.4
To try something in a casual playful way without being serious
46
3.6
Act in a silly, playful way instead of working
42
4.6
To act silly and playful without doing anything serious
40
2.4
To say funny things and behave in a playful way to make people laugh
19
5.1
Act in a playful, joking way without being serious
9
4.8
To act silly and playful to make people laugh
6
7.2
To waste time by doing small unimportant things
5
6.5
To spend time doing small, not important tasks slowly without a clear plan
4
7.3
Waste time by acting silly instead of working
3
8.4
To spend time doing not important things in a relaxed way
3
3.5
To act in a careless, playful way instead of doing something important
1
9.2
To spend time doing small unimportant things instead of working
1
8.0
To play an instrument in a relaxed way without serious practice
1
8.1
To play and joke in a silly way and sometimes cause trouble
1
9.9
To waste time doing silly or lazy things instead of useful work
1
6.5
To move around slowly doing small jobs in no hurry
1
9.9
Act in a foolish, annoying way instead of being serious
To waste time by doing silly, unimportant things
Behave in a silly, careless way to avoid serious talk
To spend time doing small unimportant things with no real plan
Act in a silly, aimless way and waste time
How Silly
- Informal
13
7.7
- Informal
9
4.8
- Slang
- UK
3
5.9
- Informal
47
3.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
zarking + around
The base verb 'zarking' is not a recognizable English word and has no dictionary sense, so a B1 learner who only knows the constituent 'around' cannot reliably derive the meaning. While the pattern '_ around' often denotes aimless or playful behavior (as in 'messing around'), the nonce/unknown verb makes the expression unpredictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
The verb zarking around may come from the silly sound zark children make when they pretend to be buzzing robots or insects, and the word around for moving here and there. One popular story says kids would run and shout 'zark' as they played, so zarking around came to mean 'to behave in a silly or playful way' or to waste time.