dissipation

From Middle French dissipation, from Late Latin dissipatio

• IPA^(key): /ˌdɪsɪˈpeɪʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

dissipation (countable and uncountable, plural dissipations)

1. The act of dissipating or dispersing; a state of dispersion or separation; dispersion; waste.
   • (Can we date this quote by Francis Bacon as well as title, page, and other details?)

     without loss or dissipation of the matter

   • (Can we date this quote by Sir M. Hale as well as title, page, and other details?)

     the famous dissipation of mankind

2. A dissolute course of life, in which health, money, etc., are squandered in pursuit of pleasure; profuseness in immoral indulgence, as late hours, riotous living, etc.; dissoluteness.
   • 18th century', Patrick Henry in a parliamentary debate

     to reclaim the spendthrift from his dissipation and extravagance

   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎:

     “… This is a surprise attack, and I’d no wish that the garrison, forewarned, should escape. I am sure, Lord Stranleigh, that he has been descanting on the distraction of the woods and the camp, or perhaps the metropolitan dissipation of Philadelphia, …”

3. A trifle which wastes time or distracts attention.
   • May 28 1733, letter from Alexander Pope to Jonathan Swift

     Prevented from finishing them [the letters] a thousand avocations and dissipations.

4. (physics) A loss of energy, usually as heat, from a dynamic system

From dissiper +‎ -tion

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dissipation f (plural dissipations)

1. clearing, dissipation, disappearance

• “dissipation” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).