fritter
Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word fritter. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word fritter, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say fritter in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word fritter you have here. The definition of the word fritter will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition offritter, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English fryture, from Middle French friture, from Old French friture, from Late Latin *frīctūra, from Latin frīgō (“to fry”); compare fry.
For the development of Middle English /iu̯r(ə)/ into /ə(ɹ)/, compare armour, batter, border, solder.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈfɹɪtə(ɹ)/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
- (US) enPR: frĭtʹər, IPA(key): /ˈfɹɪtɚ/,
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪtə(ɹ)
Noun
fritter (plural fritters)
- A dish made by deep-frying food coated in batter.
- A fragment; a shred; a small piece.
- 1662, [Samuel Butler], “”, 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: University Press, 1905, →OCLC:
- And cut whole giants into fritters.
Derived terms
Translations
dish made by deep-frying
|
Verb
fritter (third-person singular simple present fritters, present participle frittering, simple past and past participle frittered)
- (intransitive, often with about, around, or away) To 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.
- 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.
- (transitive) To sinter.
- (transitive) To cut (meat etc.) into small pieces for frying.
- (transitive) To break into small pieces or fragments.
- 1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. , Dublin, London: A. Dodd, →OCLC:
- Break all nerves, and fritter all their sense.
Derived terms
Translations
to waste time
|
sinter — see sinter
to cut meat into small pieces
|
to break into small pieces
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
See also
French
Pronunciation
Verb
fritter
- (transitive) to fritter / sinter
Conjugation
Conjugation of fritter (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | fritter | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | frittant /fʁi.tɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | fritté /fʁi.te/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | fritte /fʁit/ |
frittes /fʁit/ |
fritte /fʁit/ |
frittons /fʁi.tɔ̃/ |
frittez /fʁi.te/ |
frittent /fʁit/ |
| imperfect | frittais /fʁi.tɛ/ |
frittais /fʁi.tɛ/ |
frittait /fʁi.tɛ/ |
frittions /fʁi.tjɔ̃/ |
frittiez /fʁi.tje/ |
frittaient /fʁi.tɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | frittai /fʁi.te/ |
frittas /fʁi.ta/ |
fritta /fʁi.ta/ |
frittâmes /fʁi.tam/ |
frittâtes /fʁi.tat/ |
frittèrent /fʁi.tɛʁ/ | |
| future | fritterai /fʁi.tʁe/ |
fritteras /fʁi.tʁa/ |
frittera /fʁi.tʁa/ |
fritterons /fʁi.tʁɔ̃/ |
fritterez /fʁi.tʁe/ |
fritteront /fʁi.tʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | fritterais /fʁi.tʁɛ/ |
fritterais /fʁi.tʁɛ/ |
fritterait /fʁi.tʁɛ/ |
fritterions /fʁi.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
fritteriez /fʁi.tə.ʁje/ |
fritteraient /fʁi.tʁɛ/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | fritte /fʁit/ |
frittes /fʁit/ |
fritte /fʁit/ |
frittions /fʁi.tjɔ̃/ |
frittiez /fʁi.tje/ |
frittent /fʁit/ |
| imperfect2 | frittasse /fʁi.tas/ |
frittasses /fʁi.tas/ |
frittât /fʁi.ta/ |
frittassions /fʁi.ta.sjɔ̃/ |
frittassiez /fʁi.ta.sje/ |
frittassent /fʁi.tas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | fritte /fʁit/ |
— | frittons /fʁi.tɔ̃/ |
frittez /fʁi.te/ |
— | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
| 1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris , Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Further reading
- “fritter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.