All 5 Uses of
prodigal
in
The Merchant of Venice
- 'Tis not unknown to you, Antonio, How much I have disabled mine estate By something showing a more swelling port Than my faint means would grant continuance; Nor do I now make moan to be abridg'd From such a noble rate; but my chief care Is to come fairly off from the great debts Wherein my time, something too prodigal, Hath left me gag'd.†
Scene 1.1
- I am not bid for love; they flatter me; But yet I'll go in hate, to feed upon The prodigal Christian.†
Scene 2.5
- How like a younker or a prodigal The scarfed bark puts from her native bay, Hugg'd and embraced by the strumpet wind!†
Scene 2.6
- How like the prodigal doth she return, With over-weather'd ribs and ragged sails, Lean, rent, and beggar'd by the strumpet wind!†
Scene 2.6
- a bankrupt, a prodigal, who dare scarce show his head on the Rialto;
Scene 3.1 *prodigal = someone who is recklessly wasteful
Definitions:
-
(1)
(prodigal) recklessly wasteful
or more rarely:
abundant (extravagant in amount)
or more rarely still:
long absent (someone who has been away a long time) -
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
More rarely, prodigal is used as a noun as a shortened version of prodigal son to reference someone who is wasteful like the prodigal son in the famous Christian parable. When the prodigal son came home and apologized for his wasteful and ungrateful ways, his father forgave him, loved him, and celebrated the return.