spend

 
Pronunciation: /spɛnd/

verb (past and past participle spent /spɛnt/)

[with object]
  • 1give (money) to pay for goods, services, or so as to benefit someone or something: the firm has spent £100,000 on hardware
  • use or give out the whole of; exhaust: she couldn’t buy any more because she had already spent her money the initial surge of interest had spent itself
  • 2pass (time) in a specified way or in a particular place: she spent a lot of time travelling

noun

informal
  • an amount of money paid out: the average spend at the cafe is £10 a head

Phrases

spend a penny

British informal used euphemistically to refer to a need to urinate: you can’t get to sleep when you want to spend a penny
[with reference to the coin-operated locks of public toilets]

Derivatives

spendable

adjective

spender

noun

Origin:

Old English spendan, from Latin expendere 'pay out'; partly also a shortening of obsolete dispend, from Latin dispendere 'pay out'