dilapidate
adjEtymology Learned borrowing from Latin dīlapidātus, perfect passive participle of dilapidō (“squander, consume, throw away”), see Etymology 1 and -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more.
dilapidate
verbUK, US /dɪˈlæp.ɪ.deɪt/
Etymology From Latin dilapidō (“to scatter, consume, throw away”) + -ate (verb-forming suffix), from dis- (“asunder”) + lapidō (“to stone”), from lapis (“stone”). Compare French dilapider.
1
To cause to become ruined or put into disrepair.
- If the bishop, parson, or vicar, etc., dilapidates the buildings, or cuts down the timber of the patrimony[…]1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:
- In the last days of autumn he had whitewashed the chalet, painted the doors, windows, and veranda, repaired the roof and interior, and improved the place so much that the landlord had warned him that the rent would be raised at the expiration of his twelvemonth's tenancy, remarking that a tenant could not reasonably expect to have a pretty, rain-tight dwelling-house for the same money as a hardly habitable ruin. Smilash had immediately promised to dilapidate it to its former state at the end of the year.1883, George Bernard Shaw, chapter VI, in An Unsocial Socialist:
2
Figuratively To squander or waste.
- The patrimony of the bishopric of Oxon was much dilapidated.1692, Anthony Wood, Athenae Oxonienses:
3
Archaic To fall into ruin or disuse.
- Related terms
- lapidate