From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
dissipate
v 1: to cause to separate and go in different directions; "She
waved her hand and scattered the crowds" [syn:
disperse, dispel, break up, scatter]
2: move away from each other; "The crowds dispersed"; "The
children scattered in all directions when the teacher
approached"; [syn: disperse, scatter, spread out]
3: spend frivolously and unwisely; "Fritter away one's
inheritance" [syn: fritter, frivol away, shoot,
fritter away, fool, fool away]
4: live a life or pleasure, especially with respect to
alcoholic consumption
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
dissipate \dis"si*pate\ (d[i^]s"s[i^]*p[=a]t), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Dissipated; p. pr. & vb. n. Dissipating.] [L.
dissipatus, p. p. of dissipare; dis- + an obsolete verb
sipare, supare. to throw.]
1. To scatter completely; to disperse and cause to disappear;
-- used esp. of the dispersion of things that can never
again be collected or restored.
[1913 Webster]
Dissipated those foggy mists of error. --Selden.
[1913 Webster]
I soon dissipated his fears. --Cook.
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The extreme tendency of civilization is to dissipate
all intellectual energy. --Hazlitt.
[1913 Webster]
2. To destroy by wasteful extravagance or lavish use; to
squander.
[1913 Webster]
The vast wealth . . . was in three years dissipated.
--Bp. Burnet.
Syn: To disperse; scatter; dispel; spend; squander; waste;
consume; lavish.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Dissipate \Dis"si*pate\, v. i.
1. To separate into parts and disappear; to waste away; to
scatter; to disperse; to vanish; as, a fog or cloud
gradually dissipates before the rays or heat of the sun;
the heat of a body dissipates.
[1913 Webster]
2. To be extravagant, wasteful, or dissolute in the pursuit
of pleasure; to engage in dissipation.
[1913 Webster]