spendy

[Barnhart]

_Spendy_ is an entry in _The Barnhart Dictionary Companion_ (Vol. 10.2,
Winter 1998).  In spite of its earliest date (1989), it has not made it
into many dictionaries, notably Encarta (1999).

Regards,
David K. Barnhart, Editor
The Barnhart Dictionary Companion [quarterly]
barnhart at highlands.com
www.highlands.com/Lexik

THE FOLLOWING IS COPYRIGHT MATERIAL:

spendy, adj.  spendier, spendiest.  {W}  1. costly, expensive, pricey.
Standard (used in U.S. contexts dealing especially with economics;
frequent)

The ride lasts about an hour and when you touch down several miles from
lift-off point you are treated to an unbelievably elegant champagne
breakfast all cooked over the burners of the balloon.  It's a bit
spendy, about $200, but well worth the cost.  John Kieran, "The Africa
of dreams," The San Diego Union-Tribune (Nexis), April 3, 1986, p C-1

You've heard grumbling about that old aluminum pasta pot, consider a
piece of  Calphalon, a spendy but impressive brand of heavy
spun-aluminum cookware.  Kim Severson, "Yule-Tensils: Cooking up
practical gifts for your favorite chef," Anchorage Daily News (Nexis),
Dec. 11, 1996, p 1E

2.  generous with money; advocating a large budget. (frequency?)

"Budget cut" now apparently means a large budget increase, albeit one
somewhat smaller than has been advocated by the interests served by the
program to be "cut." "Five hundred billion dollar deficit reduction" is
an annual deficit increase each year for five years, at the end of
which time the national debt will be much larger than it is now, but
$500 billion less than has been called for by the spendiest advocates.
"Intellectual Integrity--Columnists overlooked recent examples of
doublespeak," The Seattle Times (Nexis), July 3, 1993, p A9

1985.  Composite (suffixation): formed from spend (OED: c1175) + -y
(OED: 1546) the diminutive suffix, as in trendy (BDNE1: 1970; OEDs:
1962).  Compare  pricey (OEDs: 1932).  Perhaps influenced by the use of
spend (OED: a1688) as a noun meaning "the action of spending money."
>The evidence which we have accumulated suggests that this term appears
especially in publications from the far-western portions of  the United
States and Canada.