squander

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈskwɒnd.ə/ (UK); /ˈskwɑn.dɚ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is of unknown or uncertain origin.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Earliest recorded meaning

To spend money or goods wastefully (1593 in the OED and Barnhart;^[7][3] 1580s in Etymonline,^[4] 1536 in Merriam-Webster).^[5]

Semantic evolution

Shakespeare used it in The Merchant of Venice in the sense “scattered over a wide area”,^[4][7] and the verb also meant to cause to scatter (1657) and to roam about (1630).^[7] The sense of wasting time is from 1693,^[7] and of losing an advantage or opportunity through negligence is more recent.^[5][1] Etymonline records later coinages: squandermania (1920), squanderlust (1935) and the British wartime squander-bug (1943).^[4]

Timeline

• 1593 – to spend wastefully.^[7][3]
• 1596 – scattered over an area.^[7]
• 1657 – to scatter or disperse.^[7]
• 1693 – to waste time.^[7]
• 1709 – noun, an act of squandering.^[7][5]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To spend money, time or resources wastefully or extravagantly; to dissipate.
2. To waste an advantage or opportunity through negligence.
3. To scatter or disperse.

Noun

1. Extravagant or wasteful spending.

Word family

• squanderer
• squanderingly

Usage notes

Random House gives waste, dissipate and lavish as synonyms, refers to spend for a discussion, and gives save as an antonym.^[6] Wiktionary notes that the word implies starting with plentiful resources and wasting them, as in squander an inheritance.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press