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Glite Dictionary
to blow one's wad

to blow one's wad

9.9
To spend all your money at once
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : gastar todo de una vez
  • I blew my wad, lover boy.

Examples

  • Then you gotta take it up a notch, but you don't want to blow your wad.

    High Fidelity (2000)

  • Don't blow your wad all at once; save some money for other expenses.

  • I blew my wad on the new transmission last month.

    11:14 (2003)

  • I hope you didn't blow your wad on this, Son.

    American Wedding (2003)

  • Don't blow your wad just yet.

    A Feast of Man (2016)

  • She says I gotta start something new on account I blew my wad

    Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)

  • Twinny, I hope you didn't blow your wad on the tickets...

    Twins (1988)

  • I blew my wad on a fancy new laptop that I really didn't need.

  • After winning the lottery, he blew his wad on an extravagant vacation.

Synonyms

to splurge
vsto blow one's wad
  • Informal
19 7.0

To spend a lot of money to treat yourself

spends all money at once instead of a controlled treat
to overspend
vsto blow one's wad
7 4.4

To use more money than you can afford or planned to use

spends all money at once rather than only exceeding a budget
to throw money away
vsto blow one's wad
4 3.5

Spend money on things you do not need

spends all funds at once rather than wasting money gradually
to splash out
vsto blow one's wad
  • UK
1 7.2

Spend a lot of money on something, usually to celebrate or treat yourself

spends all money at once rather than buying one expensive item
to blow savings
vsto blow one's wad
  • Informal
1 6.9

To spend saved money quickly on things you do not need

spends every last penny at once often impulsively
to push the boat out
vsto blow one's wad
  • UK
1 8.7

Spend a lot of money for a special celebration

spends all funds impulsively rather than for a planned celebration
to pissing money up the wall
vsto blow one's wad
  • Offensive
9.9

To spend money carelessly and waste it

spends all money at once often impulsively
to lighten one's purse
vsto blow one's wad
  • Archaic
8.3

To spend a lot of money and have less left

spends all money at once instead of reducing funds slowly

Antonyms

to save
842 1.0

Prevent the need to spend time or money

to conserve
63 3.4

Protect something from harm or waste by using it carefully

How Extravagant

to blow one's wad
  • Informal
9.9
to splash out
  • UK
1 7.2
to spend
∞ 1.0
to save
644 1.0

Surface Forms

blow one's wad infinitive
blew one's wad past
blown one's wad past participle
blowing one's wad present participle
blows one's wad third person singular

Morphology

blow + one + wad

The constituents 'blow' (here meaning to spend/squander) and 'wad' (a bundle of banknotes) combine in a directly suggestive way so a learner who knows those meanings can infer that it refers to spending a large sum of money. However, the expression is informal/slang and adds idiomatic nuance (impulsive spending, often all at once) that may not be fully predictable without exposure.

Etymology

Blow one's wad may come from wad meaning a bundle of cash and blow meaning to use up quickly. One popular story says someone would take a big wad of bills and 'blow' it all at once at a casino or party, so the phrase means 'to spend all of one's money at once'.