different between squander vs outlay

English

Etymology

Earliest uses (late 16th c.) "to spend recklessly or prodigiously", also "to scatter over a wide area". Of unknown origin. Perhaps a blend of scatter +? wander.

Compare Danish skvætte (rare)/skvatte (“to splash”) (nominalised: skvæt), Icelandic skvetta (“to squirt”), Swedish skvätta (“to splash”), Norwegian Bokmål skvette.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?skw?nd.?/, [?skw?nd.?]
• (US) IPA^(key): /?skw?n.d?/, [?sk??n.d?]
• Rhymes: -?nd?(?)

Verb

squander (third-person singular simple present squanders, present participle squandering, simple past and past participle squandered)

1. To waste, lavish, splurge; to spend lavishly or profusely; to dissipate.
   • 1746, Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac

     Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.
2. (obsolete) To scatter; to disperse.
3. (obsolete) To wander at random; to scatter.

Usage notes

Squander implies starting with many resources, such as great wealth, and then wasting them (using them up to little purpose or little effect), often ending with little. Particularly used in phrases such as “squander an opportunity” or “squander an inheritance”. It may be used even if one starts with little, though usually in some construction such as “squander what little he had”.

Synonyms

• waste, splurge
• ducks and drakes
• throw away

Translations

References

Anagrams

• quanders

English

Etymology

From out- +? lay.

Pronunciation

• (noun) IPA^(key): /?a?tle?/
• (verb) IPA^(key): /a?t?le?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Noun

outlay (countable and uncountable, plural outlays)

1. A laying out or expending; that which is laid out or expended.
2. The spending of money, or an expenditure.

   Without too much outlay, you could buy a second-hand car.

3. (archaic) A remote haunt or habitation.
   • c. 1609, Francis Beaumont, Philaster, or Love Lies a-Bleeding

     I know her and her haunts, Her lays, leaps, and outlays, and will discover all.

Translations

Verb

outlay (third-person singular simple present outlays, present participle outlaying, simple past and past participle outlaid)

1. (transitive) To lay or spread out; expose; display.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Drayton to this entry?)

2. (transitive) To spend, or distribute money.

Translations

Anagrams

• lay out, lay-out, layout