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 ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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 ]

a. 1. Squandered; scattered. “Dissipated wealth.” Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Wasteful of health, money, etc., in the pursuit of pleasure; dissolute; intemperate. [ 1913 Webster ]

A life irregular and dissipated. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. dissipatio: cf. F. dissipation. ] 1. The act of dissipating or dispersing; a state of dispersion or separation; dispersion; waste. [ 1913 Webster ]

Without loss or dissipation of the matter. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

The famous dissipation of mankind. Sir M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A dissolute course of life, in which health, money, etc., are squandered in pursuit of pleasure; profuseness in vicious indulgence, as late hours, riotous living, etc.; dissoluteness. [ 1913 Webster ]

To reclaim the spendthrift from his dissipation and extravagance. P. Henry. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A trifle which wastes time or distracts attention. [ 1913 Webster ]

Prevented from finishing them [ the letters ] a thousand avocations and dissipations. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dissipation of energy. Same as Degradation of energy, under Degradation. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Tending to dissipate. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dissipative system (Mech.), an assumed system of matter and motions in which forces of friction and resistances of other kinds are introduced without regard to the heat or other molecular actions which they generate; -- opposed to conservative system. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The rate at which palpable energy is dissipated away into other forms of energy. [ 1913 Webster ]