August 21, 2013
squander (verb)
\SKWAHN-der\ Hear it!
What does it mean?
: to spend foolishly or wastefully
How do you use it?
On her trip to the shopping mall, Charlotte avoided squandering her money on useless items and focused on purchasing a new computer for school.
Are you a word wiz?

Which pair of words shown below do you think entered English at about the same time as "squander"?

School was on the minds of people in the 1530s, when scholars find the earliest evidence of "pupil" and "scholarship" (meaning "money given to help pay for an education") being introduced into English. A host of other words trace back to about the same time period. A "pupil" living in rented quarters might be advised by a "landlady" to wear a "muffler," or scarf, on a cloudy, "overcast" day, and by teachers not to "squander" valuable time. A "recital," a program of music, might fill some "overtime" hours, and wider schooling allowed more people to attach their own "signature" to letters and documents.
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