to spend considerable time and effort to do something useless; to waste time
howl at the moon
To spend considerable time and effort fruitlessly in a hopeless endeav…
worth one's while
Beneficial and important enough on which to spend time, effort, or mon…
make a meal of
To spend more time and energy on some task than it warrants; to make s…
too late
Used to indicate that something is ineffective or useless because it h…
kick rocks
To leave or run away; to skedaddle; to waste one's own time (with some…
merry dance
A useless waste of time resulting from a deception.