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fritter away

 - 3 dictionary results

frit⋅ter

1  [frit-er]
Use fritter away in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to squander or disperse piecemeal; waste little by little (usually fol. 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 fol. by away): to watch one's fortune fritter away.
4. to separate or break into fragments: a plastic material having a tendency to fritter.
–noun
5. a small piece, fragment, or shred.
Origin:
1720–30; earlier fitter, deriv. of fit (OE fitt) a part

Related forms:
frit⋅ter⋅er, noun

Synonyms:
1. dissipate, frivol away, idle away.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Word Origin & History

fritter  (n.)
"fried batter," 1381, from O.Fr. friture "something fried," from L.L. frictura "a frying."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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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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