goof off

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɡuːf ˈɒf/
• (US, without cot-caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˌɡuf ˈɔf/
• (US, cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˌɡuf ˈɑf/

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goof off (third-person singular simple present goofs off, present participle goofing off, simple past and past participle goofed off)

1. (US, Australia, slang) To dawdle, lollygag; to waste time aimlessly or engage in idle activity or inactivity.

   He sat there goofing off all day instead of working.

   • 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 173:

     I've been goofing off since the day I was born.