闹了半天

闹了半天

Literally means:

after acting blindly

Actually means:

after such a big fuss

闹, fuss about something or do something repeatedly. 半天, a long time.

This phrase means making a big fuss over something, or acting blindly, but with no results. It is usually used to indicate that one finally figures out something after taking a lot of rash actions.

闹，折腾，反复地做。半天，一段不短的时间。

折腾了一段时间。表示白费劲，瞎折腾。常用来表示白花了很长时间才明白事情的结果是什么样的。