Hypertext Webster Gateway: "dissipate"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Dissipate \Dis"si*pate\, v. i.
1. To separate into parts and disappear; to waste away; to
scatter; to disperse; to vanish; as, a fog or cloud
gradually dissipates before the rays or heat of the sun;
the heat of a body dissipates.
2. To be extravagant, wasteful, or dissolute in the pursuit
of pleasure; to engage in dissipation.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Dissipate \Dis"si*pate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Dissipated}; p.
pr. & vb. n. {Dissipating}.] [L. dissipatus, p. p. of
dissipare; dis- + an obsolete verb sipare, supare. to throw.]
1. To scatter completely; to disperse and cause to disappear;
-- used esp. of the dispersion of things that can never
again be collected or restored.
Dissipated those foggy mists of error. --Selden.
I soon dissipated his fears. --Cook.
The extreme tendency of civilization is to dissipate
all intellectual energy. --Hazlitt.
2. To destroy by wasteful extravagance or lavish use; to
squander.
The vast wealth . . . was in three years dissipated.
--Bp. Burnet.
Syn: To disperse; scatter; dispel; spend; squander; waste;
consume; lavish.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
dissipate
v 1: to cause to separate and go in different directions, of
crowds, for example; "She waved her hand and scattered
the crows." [syn: {disperse}, {dispel}, {break up}, {scatter}]
2: move away from each other; "The crowds dispersed"; "The
children scattered in all directions when the teacher
approached"; [syn: {disperse}, {scatter}, {spread out}]
3: spend frivolously and unwisely; "Fritter away one's
inheritance" [syn: {fritter}, {frivol away}, {shoot}, {fritter
away}, {fool}, {fool away}]
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