fritter
pronunciation
How to pronounce fritter in British English:
UK [ˈfrɪtə(r)]
How to pronounce fritter in American English:
US [ˈfrɪtɚ]
-
- Noun:
- small quantity of fried batter containing fruit or meat or vegetables
-
- Verb:
- spend frivolously and unwisely
Word Origin
- fritter
- fritter: see fry
- fritter (v.)
- "whittle away, waste bit by bit, spend on trifles," 1728, probably from noun fritter "fragment or shred" (though this is recorded later), perhaps an alteration of 16c. fitters "fragments or pieces," which is perhaps ultimately from Old French fraiture "a breaking," from Latin fractura [OED]. Or perhaps from a Germanic *fet-source (compare Middle High German vetze "clothes, rags," Old English fetel "girdle").
- fritter (n.)
- "fried batter cake," served hot and sometimes sweetened or seasoned or with other food in it, late 14c., from Old French friture "fritter, pancake, something fried" (12c.), from Late Latin frictura "a frying," from frigere "to roast, fry" (see fry (v.)).
Example
- 1. Don 't fritter away your retirement leisure on facebook .
- 2. The family-owned chain does not fritter away cash on advertising .
- 3. Some indians , too , fear their country could fritter away its democratic dividend .
- 4. But he warned it could backfire if politicians fritter away whatever time the central bank has bought .
- 5. That was good value , considering that we now fritter the same amount every nine days in afghanistan .