prodigal

adj

1. Wastefully extravagant.

   “He found himself guilty of prodigal spending during the holidays.”

   “The prodigal son spent his share of his inheritance until he was destitute.”

   “The prodigal heir can only waste his own substance, and the punishment falls, as it should, upon himself; but the prince has an awful responsibility,—the welfare of others is required at his hands;...”

2. (often)Yielding profusely, lavish.

   “She was a merry person, glad and prodigal of smiles.”

   “How can he be so prodigal with money on such a tight budget?”

   “He generally falls backwards and sometimes succumbs to the fever which ensues; hence as soon as the ordeal is over the women are prodigal of their attentions to him, and rub the swollen arm with a particular kind of herb.”

   “Granville poised himself over a vast sirloin, stropped his knife briskly, then began to hack away ruthlessly. He was a prodigal server and piled about two pounds of meat on my plate, then he started on the Yorkshire puddings.”

3. Profuse, lavishly abundant.

   “Goe binde thou vp vond dangling Apricocks, / Which like vnruly Children, make their Syre / Stoupe with oppreſſion of their prodigall weight:”

   “And one, the reapers at their sultry toil. / In front they bound the sheaves. Behind / Were realms of upland, prodigal in oil, / And hoary to the wind.”

4. Behaving as a prodigal son:
5. Behaving as a prodigal son:

   “Simon Hart of the Daily Telegraph has tweeted that the prodigal triple-jumper has come home, in preparation for tomorrow's qualification round.”

   “I went away to come back / Like a prodigal Christian”

noun

1. A prodigal person; a spendthrift; a wastrel.

   “Now thinkes he that her husbands ſhallow tongue, / The niggard prodigall that praiſde her ſo: / In that high task hath done her Beauty wrong.”

   “Change into extremity is very frequent and easy. As when a beggar suddenly grows rich, he commonly becomes a prodigal; for, to obscure his former obscurity, he puts on riot and excess.”