The difference between Mess with and Play hob with
When used as verbs, mess with means to interfere with, whereas play hob with means mess with, cause trouble for.
check bellow for the other definitions of Mess with and Play hob with
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Mess with as a verb (idiomatic):
to interfere with
Examples:
"Don't mess with the controls. I just got everything adjusted correctly."
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Mess with as a verb (idiomatic):
to diss; to put down
Examples:
"Hey! Quit messing with my brother."
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Mess with as a verb (idiomatic):
to joke around with or dupe someone, in either a friendly or unfriendly manner
Examples:
"Don't worry, I'm just messing with you."
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Play hob with as a verb (idiomatic, UK, rustic, _, US):
mess with, cause trouble for
Examples:
"'2010, Eliezer Yudkowsky, ''Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality'' [http://hpmor.com/chapter/62 ยง62]"