fritter

[ad_1] verb (used with object)

1. to squander or disperse piecemeal; waste little by little (usually followed by away): to fritter away one’s money; to fritter away an afternoon.
2. to break or tear into small pieces or shreds.

verb (used without object)

3. to dwindle, shrink, degenerate, etc. (often followed by away): to watch one’s fortune fritter away.
4. to separate or break into fragments: a plastic material having a tendency to fritter.

noun

5. a small piece, fragment, or shred.

noun

1. a small cake of batter, sometimes containing corn, fruit, clams, or some other ingredient, fried in deep fat or sautéed.

verb (tr)

1. (usually foll by away) to waste or squanderto fritter away time
2. to break or tear into small pieces; shred

noun

3. a small piece; shred

noun

1. a piece of food, such as apple or clam, that is dipped in batter and fried in deep fat

v.

“whittle away,” 1728, from fritters “fragment or shred,” possibly from a noun sense, but this is not recorded as early as the verb; perhaps an alteration of 16c. fitters “fragments or pieces,” perhaps ultimately from Old French fraiture “a breaking,” from Latin fractura. Or perhaps from a Germanic source (cf. Middle High German vetze “clothes, rags”).

n.

“fried batter,” late 14c., from Old French friture “fritter, pancake, something fried” (12c.), from Late Latin frictura “a frying,” from frigere “to roast, fry” (see fry (v.)).

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