different between squander vs quaver

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 Middle English quaveren, frequentative form of quaven, cwavien (“to tremble”), equivalent to quave +? -er. Cognate with Low German quabbeln (“to quiver”), German quabbeln, quappeln (“to quiver”). More at quave, quab, quiver.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kwe?v?(?)/
• Rhymes: -e?v?(r)

Noun

quaver (plural quavers)

1. A trembling shake.
2. A trembling of the voice, as in speaking or singing.
3. (music) an eighth note, drawn as a crotchet (quarter note) with a tail.

Related terms

• semiquaver
• demisemiquaver
• hemidemisemiquaver

Translations

See also

• breve
• crotchet
• longa
• minim
• semibreve

Verb

quaver (third-person singular simple present quavers, present participle quavering, simple past and past participle quavered)

1. To shake in a trembling manner.
2. (intransitive) To use the voice in a trembling manner, as in speaking or singing.
3. (transitive) To utter quaveringly.

   • We shall hear her quavering them […] to some sprightly airs of the opera.

Translations