fritter away
to waste money
TRANSLATION
fritter away = Geld oder Zeit verschwenden, verplempern --- GOOGLE INDEX fritter away: 271,000 hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
A first-year student who launched a business selling tiny chunks of advertising space on a website is on the brink of (kurz vor) making $1m from the project... He has not been tempted to FRITTER his cash AWAY. His only luxury buy so far has been a new Mini.
(The Guardian)
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The average American worker admits to FRITTERING AWAY more than two hours every day, with personal Internet use by far the biggest distraction.
(The Deevy Report)
(The Guardian)
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The average American worker admits to FRITTERING AWAY more than two hours every day, with personal Internet use by far the biggest distraction.
(The Deevy Report)
Did you
know?
fritter away
phrasal verb
- to waste money, time or an opportunity
(Cambridge Dictionary)
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The verb "fritter" probably stemmed from the noun, which refers to a fragment or shred of something, or it may ultimately derive from the Latin "fractura" by way of the Old French "fraiture," meaning a breaking or fracture.
In either case, fritter represents the idea of something falling apart or disappearing piece by piece.
People who fail to seize educational and/or career opportunities in order to make something of themselves can be said to have "frittered away" their lives for instance.
Simply sitting around, doing nothing, is also described as frittering the time away. And it's not uncommon for people who have made substantial amounts of money to fritter it away.
One-time boxing champion Mike Tyson is purported to have earned upwards of $400 million during a relatively short career. After amassing debts of as much as $27 million, he was forced to file for bankruptcy. That's a lot of frittering.
Fritter also has a noun form that has nothing to do with fragments or wasting time or money. Instead, it has to do with frying. A fritter is a deep-fried batter cake that can be sweet or savoury. A doughnut, or what the French call a beignet, is a type of fritter.
In the southern United States one can find fritters made of corn meal that are affectionately called "hush puppies." One theory for this rather comical term is the idea that hunters and fisherman would feed their puppies fritters to keep them quiet while cooking.
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SYNONYMS
expend, squander, throw away, waste
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SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION
"What a shame. He frittered his entire fortune away."
phrasal verb
- to waste money, time or an opportunity
(Cambridge Dictionary)
---
The verb "fritter" probably stemmed from the noun, which refers to a fragment or shred of something, or it may ultimately derive from the Latin "fractura" by way of the Old French "fraiture," meaning a breaking or fracture.
In either case, fritter represents the idea of something falling apart or disappearing piece by piece.
People who fail to seize educational and/or career opportunities in order to make something of themselves can be said to have "frittered away" their lives for instance.
Simply sitting around, doing nothing, is also described as frittering the time away. And it's not uncommon for people who have made substantial amounts of money to fritter it away.
One-time boxing champion Mike Tyson is purported to have earned upwards of $400 million during a relatively short career. After amassing debts of as much as $27 million, he was forced to file for bankruptcy. That's a lot of frittering.
Fritter also has a noun form that has nothing to do with fragments or wasting time or money. Instead, it has to do with frying. A fritter is a deep-fried batter cake that can be sweet or savoury. A doughnut, or what the French call a beignet, is a type of fritter.
In the southern United States one can find fritters made of corn meal that are affectionately called "hush puppies." One theory for this rather comical term is the idea that hunters and fisherman would feed their puppies fritters to keep them quiet while cooking.
---
SYNONYMS
expend, squander, throw away, waste
---
SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION
"What a shame. He frittered his entire fortune away."
