horse around

verb

horsed around; horsing around; horses around

intransitive verb

: to engage in horseplay

horse around together, joking and laughing and pushing each other

—D. K. Shipler

also : fool around sense 1

Synonyms

• act up
• clown (around)
• cut up
• fool around
• hotdog
• monkey (around)
• show off
• showboat
• skylark

Examples of horse around in a Sentence

the boys were horsing around on the boat when one of them fell overboard

Recent Examples on the Web

The unidentified pre-teen was horsing around and throwing snowballs in Connecticut’s capital city with an 11-year-old friend, local ABC affiliate WTNH reported. —Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News, 23 Jan. 2025

Among racing’s many problems is that there are no dedicated air shipping companies that make moving horses around the country easy. —John Cherwa, Los Angeles Times, 25 Dec. 2024

Video went viral just days before the beginning of the 2024 Paris Olympics, where Dujardin was seen repeatedly whipping a horse around its legs. —Scott Thompson, Fox News, 5 Dec. 2024

After five teenage boys are shown horsing around on a Malibu beach for a few seconds, the shot dissolves into Liam’s perfect coif, his unbuttoned shirt, his disarming smile. —Jason Lipshutz, Billboard, 3 Sep. 2019

Word History

First Known Use

1919, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

horse around

verb

: to engage in horseplay : fool

was horsing around instead of studying