Waste time by ineffectual activity or doing unimportant tasks, dither.
If members of a political party—Sinn Fein—hesitate and faff around and cannot condemn, as the hon. Gentleman rightly did, a vicious, nasty, murderous attack on a Catholic recruit in Ballymena, and instead sit on the fence, intimidation will continue.
Lady Hermon, Hansard (pt. 20, c. 691), 10 February 2003. Hansard
MR PRATT: Do you not recall that it was Minister Corbell who faffed around for
two years on the realignment issue, adding to the other delays, some of which were out of your control?
MR HARGREAVES: I remember nothing of the sort, Mr Pratt. Mr Corbell doesn’t faff around, but you do.
Extract from the Transcript of Evidence of the Legislative Assembly for The Australian Capital Territory, Select Committee On Estimates 2006-2007, 23 June 2006. Australian Hansard
Luckily, the cosmos has decided to deliver a kick up your elegantly attired back end, making it nigh impossible to faff about any longer.
Neil Spencer, The Observer (horoscope), 3 July 2005. The Observer
"I just faff around. I'm amazed how little I manage to get done, given the time I've got to do it."
Iain Banks, quoted in an article by Colin Hughes, The Guardian, 7 August 1999, Guardian
reporting on an interview with Banks, discussing the novel, The Business. Amazon
"You can make more friends in two months by becoming more interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get people interested in you" - Dale Carnegie