fritter

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To reduce or squander little by little: frittered his inheritance away. See Synonyms at waste.
2. v. To break, tear, or cut into bits; shred.
3. n. A small cake made of batter, often containing fruit, vegetables, or fish, sautéed or deep-fried.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A small cake of batter, sometimes containing a slice of some fruit, clams or oysters either chopped or whole, or the like, sweetened or seasoned, fried in boiling lard, and served hot: as, apple fritters; peach fritters; oyster fritters.
2. n. A fragment; a shred; a small piece.
3. n. plural Specifically, in whale-fishery, tendinous fibers of the whale's blubber, running in various directions, and connecting the cellular substance which contains the oil. They are what remains after the oil has been tried out, and are used as fuel to try out the next whale. Hamersly.
4. To cut, as meat, into small pieces: also used figuratively.
5. To break into small pieces or fragments; wear away, as by friction; lose in small pieces or parts.

Wiktionary

1. n. A dish made by deep-frying food coated in batter.
2. v. intransitive To occupy oneself idly or without clear purpose, to tinker with an unimportant part of a project, to dally, sometimes as a form of procrastination.
3. v. transitive To sinter.
4. v. transitive To cut (meat etc.) into small pieces for frying.
5. v. transitive To break into small pieces or fragments.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A small quantity of batter, fried in boiling lard or in a frying pan. Fritters are of various kinds, named from the substance inclosed in the batter.
2. n. A fragment; a shred; a small piece.
3. v. To cut, as meat, into small pieces, for frying.
4. v. To break into small pieces or fragments.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. spend frivolously and unwisely
2. n. small quantity of fried batter containing fruit or meat or vegetables