spend

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To pay out money to buy or do something.

   I spent fifty dollars on a new pair of shoes.

2. 2
   verb

   To pass or use up time in a particular way.

   We spent the whole afternoon walking by the river.

3. 3
   verb

   To use up completely or exhaust.

   By the end of the race the runners had spent all their energy.

Common collocations

• spend a month Verb + noun
• spend an hour Verb + noun
• spend the day Verb + noun
• spend the night Verb + noun
• spend the summer Verb + noun
• spend the weekend Verb + noun
• spend a year Verb + noun
• spend an evening Verb + noun

From Middle English spenden, from Old English spendan (attested especially in compounds āspendan (“to spend”), forspendan (“to use up, consume”)), from Proto-West Germanic *spendōn (“to spend”), borrowed from Latin expendere (“to weigh out”). Doublet of expend. Cognate with Old High German spentōn (“to consume, use, spend”) (whence German spenden (“to donate, provide”)), Middle Dutch spenden (“to spend, dedicate”), Old Icelandic spenna (“to spend”).

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