fritter

plural fritters

1. Synonym of pancake, a portion of batter fried on a pan.

   Synonyms: pancake

2. A dish made by coating various other foods in batter and frying or deep-frying them together, typically in small portions.
3. figurativelyuncommonA fragment; a shred; a small piece.

   And cut whole giants into fritters.

   1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC

present singular third person fritters · participle present frittering · participle past frittered · past frittered

1. intransitiveoftenaround; or away; around; or awayTo squander or waste time, money, or other resources; e.g. occupy oneself idly or without clear purpose, to tinker with an unimportant part of a project, to dally, sometimes as a form of procrastination.

   I was supposed to do work, but I frittered around all afternoon.

   2 more examples

   He can’t figure out how to finish the paper he’s writing, so he’s resorted to frittering with the fonts.

   It is quite possible to fritter one's life away in answer to the endless calls of others.

2. transitiveTo sinter.
3. transitiveTo cut (meat etc.) into small pieces for frying.
4. transitiveTo break into small pieces or fragments.

   Break all nerves, and fritter all their sense.

   1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin; London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC