One who spends money recklessly or wastefully.
adj.
Wasteful or extravagant: spendthrift bureaucrats.
[SPEND + THRIFT, accumulated wealth (obsolete).]
spendthrift
Dictionary:
spend·thrift (spĕnd'thrĭft')  |
| Wordsmith Words: spendthrift |
(SPEND-thrift)
noun
One who spends money extravagantly or wastefully.
adjective
Wasteful with money.
Etymology
A spendthrift is literally one who spends his or her wealth, from Middle English thrift (prosperity), from Old Norse thrifask (thrive)
Two colorful synonyms of today's word are dingthrift and scattergood.
"Actress Reema says she would like to marry a man who is compassionate towards others, is neither a spendthrift nor a miser." — Reema Searches 'Ideal'; Pakistan Times (Rawalpindi, Pakistan); Mar 17, 2004.
"Quebec, the document points out, is both poorer and more spendthrift, which is a recipe for bankruptcy." — Konrad Yakabuski; Charest Turns to the Public to Take on Fiscal Pickle; Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); Mar 26, 2004.
| Thesaurus: spendthrift |
noun
- A person who spends money or resources wastefully: prodigal, profligate, scattergood, waster, wastrel. See save/waste.
adjective
- Characterized by excessive or imprudent spending: extravagant, lavish, prodigal, profligate, profuse, wasteful. See careful/careless, excess/insufficiency/enough, save/waste.
| Antonyms: spendthrift |
n
Definition: person careless with money
Antonyms: miser, saver, scrooge, skinflint
| Law Encyclopedia: Spendthrift |
This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.
One who spends money profusely and improvidently, thereby wasting his or her estate.
Under various statutes, a spendthrift is a person who wastes or reduces her estate through excessive drinking, gambling, idleness, or debauchery in a manner that exposes that individual or her family to indigence or suffering or who exposes the government to expense for the support of that person or her family.
When authorized by law, a guardian can manage a spendthrift's property. The purpose of the guardianship is to protect the ward and her property from her wasteful habits. Statutes that provide for the guardianship of spendthrifts are based on the right of the government to protect the property of its citizens for the benefit of themselves and their families and the community.
See: spendthrift trust.
| Wikipedia: Spendthrift |
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Look up spendthrift in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
For the horse, see Spendthrift (horse).
A spendthrift (also called profligate) is someone who spends money prodigiously and who is extravagant and recklessly wasteful. The origin of the word is someone who is able to spend money acquired by the thrift of predecessors or ancestors.
Historical examples of spendthrifts include George IV, Ludwig II and Marie Antoinette. The term is often used by the press as an adjective applied to governments who are thought to be wasting public money. William Hogarth's A Rake's Progress displays in graphical form the downwardly spiraling fortunes of a wealthy but spendthrift son and heir who loses his money, and who as a consequence is imprisoned in the Fleet Prison and ultimately Bedlam.
Legal issues
See also: Spendthrift trust
The modern legal remedy for spendthrifts is usually bankruptcy. However, during the 19th and 20th centuries, a few jurisdictions, such as the U.S. states of Oregon and Massachusetts, experimented with laws under which the family of such a person could have him legally declared a "spendthrift" by a court of law.[1] In turn, such persons were considered to lack the legal capacity to enter into binding contracts.[2][3] Even though such laws made life harder for creditors (who now had the burden of ensuring that any prospective debtor had not been judicially declared a spendthrift), they were thought to be justified by the public policy of keeping a spendthrift's family from ending up in the poorhouse or on welfare.[4]
Such laws have since been abolished —in some countries— in favor of modern bankruptcy, which is more favorable to creditors.
A modern day example is Thomas Parker.
References
- ^ William Herbert Page, The Law of Contracts, 2nd ed. (Cincinnati: W.H. Anderson Co., 1920), 2848-2849.
- ^ See ORS 126.335 (repealed Or. Stat. 1961, ch. 344, § 109). Oregon's unusual law resulted in a famous conflict-of-laws opinion: Lilienthal v. Kaufman, 239 Ore. 1, 395 P.2d 543 (1964).
- ^ Chandler v. Simmons, 97 Mass. 508, 514 (1867).
- ^ Olshen v. Kaufman, 235 Or. 423, 385 P.2d 161 (1963). This case involved the same defendant and was relied upon by the majority in Lilienthal. Both cases involved joint ventures for the sale of binoculars.
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
| Translations: Spendthrift |
Dansk (Danish)
n. - ødeland
adj. - ødsel
Nederlands (Dutch)
iemand die met geld smijt, verkwistend
Français (French)
n. - dépensier
adj. - dépensier, dispendieux
Deutsch (German)
n. - Verschwender
adj. - verschwenderisch
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - σπάταλος
adj. - άσωτος, σπάταλος
Português (Portuguese)
n. - alguém que esbanja dinheiro
adj. - esbanjador (m), gastador (m)
Русский (Russian)
расточитель, расточительный
Español (Spanish)
n. - malgastador, derrochador, manirroto
adj. - malgastador, derrochador, manirroto
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - slösare
adj. - slösaktig
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
浪费的人, 浪费的, 挥霍无度的
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 浪費的人
adj. - 浪費的, 揮霍無度的
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 돈 씀씀이 헤픈 사람, 낭비가, 재산을 탕진하는 방탕아
adj. - 돈을 헤프게 낭비하는, 방탕벽의
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 金づかいの荒い人, 身代をつぶす者
adj. - 金づかいの荒い
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) مبذر, مسرف (صفه) باسراف
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - בזבזן, פזרן
adj. - בזבזן, פזרן
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wordsmith Words. © 2009 Wordsmith.org. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Antonyms. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Law Encyclopedia. West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Copyright © 1998 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Spendthrift". Read more |
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