Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to mess about with, to become involved with.

1948		E. Hemingway letter 2 July in Baker Sel. Letters (1981) 644: I learned early to walk very dangerous so people would leave you alone; think the phrase in our part of the country was not fuck with you. Don’t fuck with me, Jack you say in a toneless voice.
1969		Cressey & Ward Delinquency, Crime, and Social Process 810: He’s lame ... he’s a chump to get off in that bag [...] if he keeps fucking around with it, he’s gonna get on it, gonna get hooked.
1973		E. Bunker No Beast So Fierce 36: L&L Red is the only one I know who fucks with them [i.e. amphetamines].
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 225: Bad things happen to people who fuck with you.
1993		Dr Dre ‘Deeez Nuuuts’ 🎵 I heard you wanna fuck with Dre... / You picked the wrong, motherfuckin day...
2006		G. Pelecanos Night Gardener 106: I ain’t even fuck with no weed.
2010		J. Ellroy Hilliker Curse 5: He let me stare out his front window and fuck with his binoculars .

2. to interfere, often by physical or mental intimidation.

1952		J. Jones From Here to Eternity (1998) 161: He dont bother me; he f-- with me I’ll bust his goddam flat head for him.
1969		S. Greenlee Spook who Sat by the Door (1972) 70: You really want to fuck with Whitey, I’ll show you how!
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 38: You jive flat-backing zero bitch [...] Don’t fuck with me.
1981		M. Baker Nam (1982) 137: I’d say, ‘Mama-san, what did you say? I’m going to blow your fucking head off. You VC.’ [...] I used to love fucking with those assholes.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 57: He protex them and ponishes any who fock with them.
1996		(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 129: Anyone who fucked with Jean-Pierre came in for a big surprise.
1999		Guardian Rev. 12 Nov. 2: I was always getting fucked with. Why? I was puny, timid.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 5: Nobody who’s got any sense is gonna fuck with us cos he’s a fearless and ruthless cunt is Morty.
2005		G. Pelecanos Drama City 84: And you about to be aware that you fucked with the wrong man.
2009		L. McIlvanney All the Colours 293: ‘That’s what you get when you fuck with Gerry Conway’.
2013		T. Robinson Hard Bounce [ebook] ‘He’s not going to fuck with you, sweetie’.
2016		V. McDermid Out of Bounds (2017) 208: It’ll be nice to have a break from fucking with other people’s encryption.
2023		Rayman & Blau Riker’s 77: [T]he officer used to fuck with him all the time because he was a Crip, and allowed other Blood inmates to [...] fuck with him and tell him, as soon as you come out, you’re dead.

3. to copulate with (a partner is usu. cited).

1978		L. Kramer Faggots 298: You may never fuck with me. I must be faithful to the memory of my own beloved.
1983		T. Logan Hey Cabbie 119: Once they were gone, she [i.e. a prostitute] stated that I hope that I don’t have to fuck with nothing but old men tonight.
1996		S. O’Sullivan in Lynch & Woods Off the Rag: Lesbian Writing on Menopause 180: More difficult was the recognition that she wasn’t really keen to fuck with her beloved when she was bleeding.
2004		B. Lane Chronicle of Murder 212: I didn’t fuck with her. She died a virgin.

4. (orig. US black) to impress, to overwhelm, to manipulate.

1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 29: ‘He wants to be the main skag man uptown, Rocco. He think he can fuck with the feds’.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 138: I’m just fuckin’ wi’cho mind.
1993		Tarantino & Avery Pulp Fiction [film script] 146: That’s what’s fuckin’ wit’ me. I don’t know why.
2000		Guardian Weekend 27 May 11: Okay, we’re going to really fuck with you now.
2015		J. Stahl OG Dad 127: What fucks with me is what’s not in the TV version of newborn Daddyhood.

5. to play around with.

1970		G. Scott-Heron Vulture (1996) 79: I know Seedy been fuckin’ wit’ you an’ yo boys, an I know you don’t dig it.
1979		(con. c.1970) G. Hasford Short Timers (1985) 57: ‘You guys getting hit?’ ‘That’s affirmative [...] Every night. A few rounds. They’re just fucking with us.’.
1987		(con. 1970s) J. Pistone Donnie Brasco (2006) 348: First guy fucks with a pistol, they’ll break up the whole crew.
1993		(con. 1969) N.L. Russell Suicide Charlie 143: At the French Fort, the sappers and the mortar fire combined to fuck with everybody’s mind.
2001		(con. 1975–6) E. Little Steel Toes 86: Phil is fucking with the engine of the Cuda.
2008		Simon & Burns ‘More with Less’ Wire ser. 5 ep. 1 [TV script] Why you fuckin’ with Duke?
2015		S. King Finders Keepers (2016) 78: Step out boys [...] Arm’s length fom the upstanding American in front of you. No wedgies and no reach-arounds. Don’t fuck with us, and we will return the favor.
2020		D. Winslow ‘Broken’ in Broken 12: ‘I’m fucking with you, Oscar says, laughing.

6. to associate with, to befriend.

1981		E. Bunker Little Boy Blue (1995) 82: It’s good you fuckin’ with me and Floyd ’n’ gettin’ schooled.
2007		B. Coleman Check the Technique 280: ‘Premier's the type of dude who would fuck with us [i.e., be friends with us] whether we were known or not’.
2015		67 ‘Today’ 🎵 Sweep a nigga up if he fucks with the opp blocks.
2016		Jeezy annotation to ‘Let Em Know’ on genius.com I fuck with people that are genuine. I feel like rap niggas are fake. [...] I fuck with real men. Like, genuine motherfuckers. Class act people.