dispender

D2I1S1P3E1N1D2E1R1

noun

A steward or treasurer.

OriginMiddle English dispendour ← Old French despendour →
Scrabble 13
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Meanings

noundispender (plural dispenders)

plural dispenders

  1. EarlyModernobsoleteA steward or treasurer.
    1 more example

    He was so greatly beloued of al sorts of people for his gentlenes, affability & liberality, as many men liuing, but more at their death (especially Cleargy men) would put their goods & children into his hands; the one assuring themselues of a faithfull keeper, the other of a discréete and conscionable dispender.

    1601, Francis Godwin, The Succession of the Bishops of England […], published 1625, page 561

Origin

  1. Old Frenchdespendour
  2. Middle Englishdispendour
  3. Englishdispender

Inherited from Middle English dispendour, from Old French despendour. By surface analysis, dispend (“distribute, dispense”) + -er. Doublet of dispenser and spencer.

More words from Middle English, Old French

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

dispender. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dispender

MLA

“dispender.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dispender. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dispender,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dispender.

Source: dispender on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.