Dictionary entry

Spend

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Spend (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p.Spent (?); p. pr. & vb. n.Spending.] [AS. spendan (in comp.), fr. L. expendere or dispendere to weigh out, to expend, dispense. See Pendant, and cf. Dispend, Expend, Spence, Spencer.] 1. To weigh or lay out; to dispose of; to part with; as, to spend money for clothing.

Spend thou that in the town. Shak.

Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? Isa. lv. 2.

2. To bestow; to employ; — often with on or upon.

I... am never loath

To spend my judgment. Herbert.

3. To consume; to waste; to squander; to exhaust; as, to spend an estate in gaming or other vices.

4. To pass, as time; to suffer to pass away; as, to spend a day idly; to spend winter abroad.

We spend our years as a tale that is told. Ps. xc. 9.

5. To exhaust of force or strength; to waste; to wear away; as, the violence of the waves was spent.

Their bodies spent with long labor and thirst. Knolles.