spend (v.)
"to pay out or away, deprive oneself of" (money, wealth), Middle English spenden, from Old English -spendan (in forspendan "use up"), from Medieval Latin spendere, a shortening of Latin expendere "to weigh out money, pay down" (see expend) or possibly of dispendere "to pay out" (see dispense). The word was borrowed generally in Germanic: Old High German spendon, German and Middle Dutch spenden, Old Norse spenna.
The Middle English word is also probably is in part from or merged with Old French despendre, from Latin dispendere.
In reference to anything of exchangeable value (labor, thoughts, time, etc.), "consume, use up," attested from c. 1300. The notion of "consume or use wastefully or fruitlessly" is by late 14c. The intransitive sense "exhaust, wear (oneself) out" is from 1590s (see spent).
Entries linking to spend
mid-14c., dispensen, "to dispose of, deal or divide out," from Old French dispenser "give out" (13c.), from Latin dispensare "disburse, administer, distribute (by weight)," frequentative of dispendere "pay out," from dis- "out" (see dis-) + pendere "to hang, cause to hang; weigh; pay" (from PIE root *(s)pen- "to draw, stretch, spin").
In Medieval Latin, dispendere was used in the ecclesiastical sense of "grant licence to do what is forbidden or omit what is required" (a power of popes, bishops, etc.), and thus acquired a sense of "grant remission from punishment or exemption from law," hence the use of the English verb in the senses "to do away with" (1570s), "do without" (c. 1600). The older sense is preserved in dispensary. Related: Dispensed; dispensing.
Trends of spend
updated on April 21, 2023
Dictionary entries near spend
spelt
spelunk
spelunker
Spencer
Spencerian
spend
spendable
spender
spending
spendthrift
Spenglerian
