spend
verb
uk/spend/ usspent | spent [ I or T ]
to give money as a payment for something:
How much did you spend?
spend sth on sth We've just spent €1.9 million on improving our computer network.
We've spent too much money on advertising that isn't working.
We spent a fortune when we were in New York.
[ T ]
to use time doing something or being somewhere:
spend time doing sth They need to spend more time improving customer relations.
spend time on sth I spent a lot of time on that report.
How long do you spend at the computer each day?
spend years/ages I've spent years building up this company.
spend a day/week/year, etc. We spent last weekend working.
[ T ]
to use energy, effort, force, etc., especially until there is no more left:
For the past month he's been spending all his energy trying to find a job.
See also
overspend verb
tax-and-spend
underspend verb
spend
noun [ S ]
ECONOMICS, FINANCE uk/spend/ usthe amount of money that is spent on a particular activity:
the spend on/for sth The total spend on the project was almost a million pounds.
If your company's annual spend on telephone calls exceeds $3,000, then it would be worth changing plans.
the total/actual spend BP will spend $1 billion more this year, raising the total spend to $15 billion.
advertising/marketing/promotional spend
See also
overspend noun
underspend noun