spend

[spend]

verb (used with object)

spent, spending 

1. to pay out, disburse, or expend; dispose of (money, wealth, resources, etc.).

   resisting the temptation to spend one's money.

   Antonyms: keep, earn

2. to employ (labor, thought, words, time, etc.), as on some object or in some proceeding.

   Don't spend much time on it.

   Synonyms: devote, apply, use

3. to pass (time) in a particular manner, place, etc..

   We spent a few days in Baltimore.

4. to use up, consume, or exhaust.

   The storm had spent its fury.

5. to give (one's blood, life, etc.) for some cause.

verb (used without object)

spent, spending 

1. to spend money, energy, time, etc.

2. Obsolete.,  to be consumed or exhausted.

spend

/ spɛnd /

verb

1. to pay out (money, wealth, etc)

2. (tr) to concentrate (time, effort, thought, etc) upon an object, activity, etc

3. (tr) to pass (time) in a specific way, activity, place, etc

4. (tr) to use up completely

   the hurricane spent its force

5. (tr) to give up (one's blood, life, etc) in a cause

6. obsolete,  (intr) to be used up or exhausted

7. informal,  to urinate

noun

1. an amount of money spent, esp regularly, or allocated to be spent

Other Word Forms

• antispending adjective
• underspend verb
• unspending adjective
• spendable adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of spend¹

First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English spenden, continuing Old English -spendan (in āspendan, forspendan “to spend entirely or utterly”), from West Germanic, from Latin expendere “to pay out, spend, expend” ( expend ); compare German spenden

Word History and Origins

Origin of spend¹

Old English spendan, from Latin expendere; influenced also by Old French despendre to spend, from Latin dispendere; see _expend , _dispense

Idioms and Phrases

see pocket (spending) money.

Synonym Study

Spend, disburse, expend, squander refer to paying out money. Spend is the general word: We spend more for living expenses now. Disburse implies expending from a specific source or sum to meet specific obligations, or paying in definite allotments: The treasurer has authority to disburse funds. Expend is more formal, and implies spending for some definite and (usually) sensible or worthy object: to expend most of one's salary on necessities. Squander suggests lavish, wasteful, or foolish expenditure: to squander a legacy.

Example Sentences

There were a "lot of things out there" creating an atmosphere of uncertainty, he added, pointing to risk factors like the geopolitical environment, fiscal spending and the remilitarisation of the world.

Read more on BBC

"I saw displaced children just spending their time in queues for food and water - not having a childhood, and I wanted to do something, for them," she says.

Read more on BBC

That level of spending has excited Hollywood at a time when there has been little good news.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

And, although the Dodgers under current ownership do not appear interested in a salary cap, a cap would decrease player spending and thus increase team profits.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

It's a message that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ministers have repeated over the past few weeks - make in India and spend in India.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• allocate 
• concentrate 
• consume 
• contribute 
• donate 
• drop 
• employ 
• expend 
• give 
• invest 
• put in 
• settle 
• use 
• waste