fritter away

[frit-er]

frit·ter

1[frit-er]
verb (used with object)
1.
to squander or disperse piecemeal; waste little by little (usually followed by away): to fritter away one's money; to fritter away an afternoon.
2.
to break or tear into small pieces or shreds.
verb (used without object)
3.
to dwindle, shrink, degenerate, etc. (often followed by away): to watch one's fortune fritter away.
4.
to separate or break into fragments: a plastic material having a tendency to fritter.

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Fritter away is always a great word to know.
So is callithumpian. Does it mean:
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
noun
5.
a small piece, fragment, or shred.

Origin:
1720–30; earlier fitter, derivative of fit (Old English fitt) a part

frit·ter·er, noun
un·frit·tered, adjective


1. dissipate, frivol away, idle away.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

fritter away

Squander or waste little by little; wear down gradually. For example, She frittered away her salary on odds and ends and saved nothing. This expression was first recorded in Alexander Pope's Dunciad (1728): "How prologues into prefaces decay, And these to notes are fritter'd quite away."

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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