prodigal, a. and n. (adv.)
(ˈprɒdɪgəl)
[a. obs. F. prodigal (16th c. in Godef.), ad. late L. *prōdigāl-is (prōdigāliter, Ambrose, prōdigālitās, Boeth.), f. prōdig-us: see prec. and -al1.]
A. adj.
1. Given to extravagant expenditure; recklessly wasteful of one's property or means.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xix. 44 Gif I be nobill, gentill and fre, A prodigall man I am so prysit. 1538 Starkey England i. iv. 107 Yf the sone be prodygal and gyuen to al vyce and foly. 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 136 The nobility is very gallant, prodigall in expenses, spending more than their reuenues in diet and apparell. 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. ii. 95 The elder and thrifty brother [represents] the Jew; the younger and prodigall, the Gentile. a 1716 South Serm. (1727) IV. x. 428 It is hard, if not impossible, for a prodigal person to be guilty of no other Vice, but Prodigality. 1870 Disraeli Lothair vii, Lothair was profuse, but he was not prodigal. |
b. with of. (Often passing into 3 b.)
| 1665 Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 149 Too late they pleased to be prodigal, both of Wealth and Life. 1773 Observ. State Poor 134 Perhaps no nation on earth is so prodigal of life as the English. 1864 Kingsley Rom. & Teut. i. 15 Nature is prodigal of human life. |
c. prodigal son, prodigal child: in reference or allusion to the parable, in Luke xv. 11–32: cf. B. 2.
Quot. c 1450 may be an error for prodigale.
| c 1450 [see prodigate]. 1508 Fisher 7 Penit. Ps. cxlii. Wks. (1876) 265 The comynge agayne of this prodygall chylde whiche hath spent his substance. [1523 Vulgate, Luke xv. marginal note, parabola de filio prodigo.] 1551 Bible (Matthew) Luke xv. heading, The parables of the loste shepe, of the groat that was loste, and of the prodigall sonne. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iii. 103 Then hee compast a Motion of the Prodigall sonne, and married a Tinkers wife. 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 16 A Clock, on which was represented, in painting, the Parable of the Prodigal Child. |
2. Of things or actions: Wastefully lavish.
(In Shakespeare sometimes by a kind of hypallage attributed to another noun in the sentence.)
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems ix. 124 Prodigall spending, but rewth of peure folkis neiding. 1530 Palsgr. 361 Some by fyre, some by prodigall expences. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 64 How I would make him..spend his prodigall wits in booteles rimes. 1607 ― Timon ii. ii. 174 How many prodigall bits haue Slaues and Pezants This night englutted. 1672 Cave Prim. Chr. ii. iv. (1673) 78 Our little suppers they traduce as prodigal. 1683 Evelyn Diary 4 Oct., This woman's apartment, now twice or thrice pull'd down and rebuilt to satisfie her prodigal and expensive pleasures. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xix. IV. 327 Under the energetic and prodigal administration of the first William Pitt, the debt rapidly swelled to a hundred and forty millions. |
3. Lavish in the bestowal or disposal of things.
| 1595 Daniel Civ. Wars i. xxv, Too prodigall was nature thus to doe, To spend in one age, what should serue for two. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, v. v. 13 My Noble Gossips, y'haue beene too Prodigall; I thanke ye heartily. 1652–62 Heylin Cosmogr. iii. (1682) 18 Inriched with prodigal veins of Gold and Silver. 1838–9 Hallam Hist. Lit. II. ii. i. §3. 4 A more prodigal accumulation of quotations. 1859 Kingsley Misc., Tennyson I. 228 The prodigal fulness of thought and imagery. |
b. with of: lavish of; also with in (rare).
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. ii. i. 9 Be now as prodigall of all deare grace, As Nature was in making Graces deare. 1681 Nevile Plato Rediv. 25 Of these things I shall be very prodigal in my discourse. 1745 N. Jersey Archives XII. 275 Run away..a Servant Man,..appears a weildy young Man, prodigal in his Walk, and much so in his Speech. 1778 H. More Florio i. 183 When..May is prodigal of flowers. 1832 Tennyson Pal. Art xx, Realms of upland, prodigal in oil, And hoary to the wind. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. I. ii. 157 Nature had been prodigal to him of her rarest gifts. |
¶ 4. ‘Proud’ (Halliw. Dict. Arch. 1847). (? error.)
B. n.
1. One who spends his money extravagantly and wastefully; a spendthrift, waster.
| 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. i. 47 A bankrout, a prodigall, who dare scarce shew his head on the Ryalto. 1620 T. Granger Div. Logike 171 To play the dingthrift, or prodigall. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. ii. iv. (1869) I. 360 The greater part of the money..would be lent to prodigals and projectors. 1881 Besant & Rice Chapl. Fleet I. 143 Formerly, I was rich and a prodigal. |
b. with of.
| 1655 Fuller Hist. Camb. (1840) 127 No wonder for those..who were prodigals of their own persons. 1885–94 R. Bridges Eros & Psyche Mar. xv, The prodigal of an immortal day For ever spending, and yet never spent. |
2. In pregnant sense, with reference or allusion to the career of ‘the Prodigal son’: see A. 1 c.
| 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. ii. vi. 14, 16. 1601 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. (Qo. 1) v. i. 360 Where is he?..the picture of the prodigal, go to, ile haue the calfe drest for you at my charges. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. 9, I would, like a true repenting Prodigal, go home to my Father. 1751 Transl. & Paraphr. Ch. Scot. xl. v, The grieving prodigal bewail'd the follies he had done. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth x, Should not I be permitted, like him, to reclaim my poor prodigal by affection as well as severity? 1885 S. Cox Expositions III. 30 Though a prodigal, he was still a son. |
3. to play the prodigal: to act prodigally, be wasteful or lavish; to act like ‘the prodigal son’.
| 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. i. Wks. 1856 I. 12 Let vollies of the great artillery From of our gallies banks play prodigall. c 1820 S. Rogers Italy, Fountain 7 The water..o'erflowed; Then dashed away, playing the prodigal, And soon was lost. |
C. as adv. Prodigally, lavishly.
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. iii. 116, I doe know When the Bloud burnes, how Prodigall the Soule Giues the tongue vowes. |
Hence † ˈprodigal v. trans., to expend wastefully, extravagantly, or lavishly; ˈprodigalish a., that is somewhat of a prodigal; ˈprodigalism, the condition and action of a prodigal; a course of life like that of ‘the Prodigal son’.
| 1628 Feltham Resolves ii. [i.] xx. 67 Hee prodigals a Mine of Excellencie, that lauishes a terse Oration to an approued Auditory. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 4 ‘Nemo se sibi vindicat, sed Alius in Alium consumitur’ (saith..Seneca) No man Husbandeth himselfe, but vainly..Prodigalls Himselfe out on others. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. ii, He should like to cross a stick wi' the prodigalish young chap. 1896 Chicago Advance 1 Oct. 429 Infatuation is the bad element in prodigalism. |