dare fondo

Literally, “to give bottom”.

dàre fondo (first-person singular present (with syntactic gemination after the verb) dò fondo, first-person singular past historic dièdi fondo or diédi fondo or détti fondo or (traditional) dètti fondo, past participle dàto fondo, first-person singular future darò fondo, first-person singular subjunctive dìa fondo, first-person singular imperfect subjunctive déssi fondo, second-person singular imperative dài fondo or dà' fondo, auxiliary avére)

1. (idiomatic) to use up; to exhaust

   Synonyms: consumare, finire, esaurire

   • 2020, Barack Obama, chapter 9, in Chicca Galli, Paolo Lucca, Giuseppe Maugeri, transl., Una terra promessa [A Promised Land], Garzanti Libri:

     E lo stesso facevano tutti coloro che avevano lavorato per quelle aziende e adesso si ritrovavano per strada, o vedevano scemare il capitale delle loro case o dei loro piani previdenziali, o erano rimasti indietro con i pagamenti delle carte di credito e non avevano altra scelta se non quella di dar fondo ai propri risparmi: rimandavano l'acquisto di un'auto, evitavano di mangiare fuori e rinunciavano alle vacanze.

     And as people who had worked for those companies lost their jobs, or saw the equity in their homes or 401(k) plans dwindle, or fell behind on their credit card payments and were forced to spend down their savings, they, too, retrenched. They put off new car purchases, stopped eating out, and postponed vacations.

     (literally, “And everyone who had worked for those companies and now found themselves on the street did so too, or saw the equity of their homes or their employee benefit plan diminish, or they were left behind with payments on their credit cards and they had no other choice but to use up their savings: they delayed the purchase of a car, they avoided eating out and they gave up on vacations.”)

• foderando