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ssity; recklessly or viciously profuse; lavish; wasteful; not frugal or economical; as, a prodigal man; the prodigal son; prodigal giving; prodigal expenses. In fighting fields [patriots] were prodigal of blood. Dryden.

essive liberality; profusion; waste; -- opposed to frugality, economy, and parsimony."The prodigality of his wit." Dryden.

To act as a prodigal; to spend liberally. Sherwood.

In a prodigal manner; with profusion of expense; extravagantly; wasteful; profusely; lavishly; as, an estate prodigally dissipated. Nature not bounteous now, but lavish grows; Our paths with flowers she prodigally strows. Dryden.

Prodigal expense for food. [Obs.] Bailey.

An opposition or contrast of words or sentiments occurring in the same sentence; as, "The prodigal robs his heir; the miser robs himself." "He had covertly shot at Cromwell; he how openly aimed at the Queen."

Refuse; lees; dregs; the wash given to swine or cows; hogwash; waste matter. Prodigals lately come from swine keeping, from eating draff and husks. Shak. The draff and offal of a bygone age. Buckle. Mere chaff and draff, much better burnt. Tennyson.

Disposed to pour out freely; prodigal. [Obs.] Young.

The state of being extravagant, wild, or prodigal beyond bounds of propriety or duty; want of moderation; excess; especially, undue expenditure of money; vaid and superfluous expense; prodigality; as, extravagance of anger, love, expression, imagination, demands. Some verses of my own, Maximin and Almanzor, cry vengean…

Profuse in expenditure; prodigal; wasteful; as, an extravagant man. "Extravagant expense." Bancroft.

Affluent; abounding; well furnished or suppled; hence, liberal; prodigal. Lord Strut was not very flush in ready. Arbuthnot.

To bind by pledge, or security; to engage. Great debts Wherein my time, sometimes too prodigal, Hath left me gaged. Shak.

mpanion; a familiar and customary acquaintance. [Obs.] My noble gossips, ye have been too prodigal. Shak.

The supporting frame of a run of millstones. Husks of the prodigal son (Bot.), the pods of the carob tree. See Carob.

Lit., gilded youth; young people of wealth and fashion, esp. if given to prodigal living; -- in the French Revolution, applied to young men of the upper classes who aided in suppressing the Jacobins after the Reign of Terror.

Prodigal in expending; lavish. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Expending or bestowing profusely; profuse; prodigal; as, lavish of money; lavish of praise.

nurious; niggardly; stingy. -- Par`si*mo"ni*ous*ly, adv. -- Par`si*mo"ni*ous*ness, n. A prodigal king is nearer a tyrant than a parsimonious. Bacon. Extraordinary funds for one campaign may spare us the expense of many years; whereas a long, parsimonious war will drain us of more men and money. Addison.…

Lavish; profuse; prodigal. [Obs.] He that is plentiful in expenses will hardly be preserved from Bacon. -- Plen"ti*ful*ly, adv. -- Plen"ti*ful*ness, n.

Waste; profusion; prodigality. [R.] Bp. Hall.