▪ I. fritter, n.1
(ˈfrɪtə(r))
Forms: 5 fretoure, -ure, frutter, fruyter, frytour, -owre, (freature), 5–6 frit-, frut-, -er, -eur, -our(e, -ur(e, 6 frither, frytter, 7 frittar, 5– fritter.
[a. Fr. friture = Sp. fritura, It. frittura:—Lat. type *frīctūra, f. frīgĕre to fry.]
1. Usually pl. A portion of batter, sometimes containing slices of apple, meat, etc., fried in oil, lard, etc. Often preceded by some qualifying word, as apple-fritter, oyster-fritter, rice-fritter; also, in 15–16th c., in some semi-anglicized French terms, as † fritter-bounce, fritter-pouch, fritter-sage, fritter-viant (meat) (obs.).
| c 1420 Liber Cocorum (1862) 55 Tarts and daryels and custan dere, Rysshene and pome dorres, and frutur in fere. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 501–2 O fruture viant, Frutur sawge, byn good, bettur is Frutur powche; Appulle fruture is good hoot, but þe cold ye not towche. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 600 Frytour of sunne facion, with a floure delyce therin. 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) 240 Fresshe storgion, quynces in paste, tarte poleyn, fritour bounce. 1634 J. Taylor (Water P.) Gt. Eater Kent 12 Pancake or fritter or flap-iacke. 1664 Pepys Diary 19 Aug., Home to supper to a good dish of fritters. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 161 Batter, made as for common fritters. 1835 W. Irving Tour Prairies 72 A paste made of flour and water, and fried, like fritters, in lard. 1859 All Year Round No. 36. 222 The fritter refuses to imbibe any more oil. 1861 Sala Dutch Pict. xix. 301, I have heard much of the rice fritters and savoury soups of the Lancashire vegetarians. |
| fig. 1580 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 276 O Clinias..the very fritter of fraud, and seething pot of iniquitie. |
† 2. ? A species of apple. Obs.—1
| 1591 Lyly Endym. iii. iii, For fruit these, fritters, medlers, hartichokes and lady longings. |
3. pl. Whaling = fenks.
[Perh. a transferred use of F. friture fat in which something is fried.]
| 1631 E. Pellham Preserv. 8 Englishm. in Green-land 22 We agreed..to keepe Wednesdayes and Fridayes Fasting dayes; excepting from the Frittars or Graves of the Whale. (marg. note. These be the Scraps of the Fat of the Whale, which are flung away after the Oyle is gotten out of it.) 1813 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 488 Extracting the oil from the fritters. 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 176 The finks or fritters were always sufficient to boil the remainder without any other fuel. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as fritter-barrow, fritter-pan, fritter-seller; fritter-filled ppl. a.
| 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 176 A ‘*fritter barrow’ being furnished with a grating..drained the oil from the fritters. |
| 1619 Pasquil's Palin. (1877) 152 When every paunch till it can hold no more, Is *Fritter-fild, as well as heart can wish. |
| 1625 B. Jonson Staple of N. ii. i, My face dropt like the skimmer in a *fritter-pan. |
| 1636 Davenant Witts i. i, Hans van Holme, *fritter seller of Bombell. |
▪ II. fritter, n.2
(ˈfrɪtə(r))
[app. an altered form of fitters; perh. due to the influence of prec.; but cf. OF. freture, fraiture:—L. fractūra fracture.]
1. pl. Minute pieces, fragments, shreds. Also, articles of trifling size, trifles. Now rare.
In Johnson's quots. (Bacon, 1626; Butler, 1678) the correct reading is fitters; in Shakes. Merry W. v. v. 151 the word is prob. fritter n.1
| 1755 in Johnson. 1767 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1792) I. iv. 94 Trimmings hanging in fritters and tattars. ? c 1890 in Daily News 12 Oct. (1895) 6/3 A huge collection of ornamental fritters huddled together. |
| attrib. 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies ii. ii. 168 There appears these differences, Flaxen Clouds, Fleec'd Clouds, some which I call Fritter Clouds, all from their likeness. |
2. [From the vb.] Excessive subdivision (by which the general effect is lost).
| 1803 H. Repton Landscape Gard. (1805) 56 Producing variety without fritter, and continuity without sameness. 1848 Rickman Archit. 201 This window is a series of small panels..and these..throw the building into fritter. |
▪ III. fritter, v.
(ˈfrɪtə(r))
Also 8 fretter.
[f. prec.]
1. trans. To break or tear into pieces or fragments; to subdivide minutely. Now rare.
| 1772–84 Cook Voy. (1790) IV. 1243 Having our main-top⁓gallant yard carried away in the slings, and the sail frittered in a thousand pieces. 1780 Burke Sp. Œcon. Reform Wks. III. 285 Frittering and crumbling down the attention by a blind unsystematick observance of every trifle. 1784 J. Barry in Lect. Paint. i. (1848) 83 The no less mischievous fragments into which they [northern hordes] were frittered. 1803 T. Jefferson Writ. (1830) III. 508 Perverting the simple doctrines he taught..and frittering them into subtleties. 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) xx. ix. 268 The kernel to be..frittered among the parties cracking. 1816 Keatinge Trav. (1817) II. 236 France was once frittered into subdivisions, as Spain still is. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 359 When they [i.e. hydatids] die, the bags and cysts are often broken up and become frittered into minute tatters and filaments. 1866 Alger Solit. Nat. & Man iv. 366 That throng of women whose attention is frittered on trifles. |
b. intr. for refl. † To become broken into pieces or subdivided (obs.). rarely, To dwindle.
| 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 79 Small pieces of it fritter between the fingers. a 1828 H. Neele Lit. Rem. (1829) 18 The canvass fritters into shreds and the column moulders into ruin. 1876 J. Parker Paracl. ii. Epil. 374 Minuteness never fritters into pettiness. |
2. a. With away, down: To do away with piecemeal; to attenuate, wear down, whittle away; to spend (energy, time) on trifles, to waste.
| 1728 Pope Dunc. i. 232 How prologues into prefaces decay And these to notes are fritter'd quite away. 1777 Burke Let. to Mrq. Rockingham Wks. IX. 170 To break the continuity of your conduct, and thereby to weaken and fritter away the impression of it. 1799 H. More Fem. Educat. (ed. 4) I. 73 They had..frittered down delicacy into frivolousness. 1803 Wellington Let. to Close in Gurw. Desp. II. 88 To fritter away the small force which his Highness has produced. 1820 Ld. Dudley Lett. 26 Sept. (1840) 266 Our unpunctuality..fritters away so large a part of the..day in wearisome waiting. 1846 McCulloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 537 The whole country would be frittered down into potato gardens. 1846 Thackeray Crit. Rev. Wks. 1886 XXIII. 96 He frittered away in fugitive publications time and genius. 1868 M. E. Braddon Run to Earth III. vi. 87 You know what Sheridan said about frittering away his money in paying his debts. |
† b. With out. To bring out, utter piecemeal.
| a 1764 Lloyd Poetry Professors 42 What pretty things imagination Will fritter out in adulation. |
Hence ˈfrittered ppl. a., ˈfrittering vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1778 Boswell in Johnson (1791) II. 216 He could put together only curt frittered fragments of his own. 1795 Mason Ch. Mus. ii. 136 The frittering of one syllable into almost half a century of semiquavers is perhaps the best and only expedient for shewing its executive powers. 1803 H. Repton Landscape Gard. (1805) 47 If too many trees be introduced..the effect becomes fritter'd. 1816 J. Scott Vis Paris (ed. 5) 77 Broken mass of small windows, unequal stories, frittered compartments. 1853 Robertson Serm. Ser. ii. 337 A foolish, frivolous, disgraceful, frittered past. 1889 Spectator 9 Nov., This frittering away of feeling on the scenes of an opera. |