footle away
C1 informal separable transitive
In simple words
Throw away time or opportunities by doing silly, unimportant things.
Literal meaning: To send (time) away through footling — trivial, purposeless activity.
Meanings
1 C1
idiomatic
informal
To waste time or opportunities by spending them on trivial, pointless activities.
"She footled away the entire holiday without learning anything new."
Grammar: separable
Usage notes
Extremely rare in modern English. Almost exclusively found in older British writing. The object is usually 'time' or 'an afternoon'.
Commonly used with
time afternoon hours opportunity
Forms
Base
footle away
I/you/we/they
3rd person
footles away
he/she/it
Past simple
footled away
yesterday
Past participle
footled away
have + pp
-ing form
footling away
continuous
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