prodigal
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L325957 on Wikidata ↗adjective
- lavish
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈpɹɒdɪɡəl/ / /ˈpɹɑdɪɡəl/ / [ˈpʰɹɑɾɪɡɫ̩]
adj
Etymology: From Middle French prodigal, from Late Latin prōdigālis (“wasteful”), from Latin prōdigus (“wasteful, lavish, prodigal”), from prōdigō (“to consume, squander, drive forth”), from prōd- [from prō (“before, forward”)] + agō (“to drive”). Also see unrelated prodigy. The senses of "abandoning a person or cause" and "returning after abandonment" are by allusion to the New Testament story commonly called "The Parable of the Prodigal Son", Luke 15:11–32. See prodigal son.
- Wastefully extravagant.
“He found himself guilty of prodigal spending during the holidays.”
“The prodigal son spent his share of his inheritance until he was destitute.”
- Yielding profusely, lavish.
“She was a merry person, glad and prodigal of smiles.”
“How can he be so prodigal with money on such a tight budget?”
- Profuse, lavishly abundant.
“Goe binde thou vp vond dangling Apricocks, / Which like vnruly Children, make their Syre / Stoupe with oppreſſion of their prodigall weight:”
“And one, the reapers at their sultry toil. / In front they bound the sheaves. Behind / Were realms of upland, prodigal in oil, / And hoary to the wind.”
- Behaving as a prodigal son:
- Behaving as a prodigal son:
“Simon Hart of the Daily Telegraph has tweeted that the prodigal triple-jumper has come home, in preparation for tomorrow's qualification round.”
“I went away to come back / Like a prodigal Christian”
noun
Etymology: From Middle French prodigal, from Late Latin prōdigālis (“wasteful”), from Latin prōdigus (“wasteful, lavish, prodigal”), from prōdigō (“to consume, squander, drive forth”), from prōd- [from prō (“before, forward”)] + agō (“to drive”). Also see unrelated prodigy. The senses of "abandoning a person or cause" and "returning after abandonment" are by allusion to the New Testament story commonly called "The Parable of the Prodigal Son", Luke 15:11–32. See prodigal son.
- A prodigal person; a spendthrift; a wastrel.
“Now thinkes he that her husbands ſhallow tongue, / The niggard prodigall that praiſde her ſo: / In that high task hath done her Beauty wrong.”
“Change into extremity is very frequent and easy. As when a beggar suddenly grows rich, he commonly becomes a prodigal; for, to obscure his former obscurity, he puts on riot and excess.”