subs. (colloquial).—Generic for effort and effect. As verb. = to make the most and do the showiest; SPLURGY = ON IT (q.v.).
1843. W. T. PORTER, ed., The Big Bear of Arkansas, etc., 54. Well, them was great times, but now the Settlements is got too thick for them TO SPLURGE.
1844. W. T. THOMPSON, Major Jones’s Courtship, 111. Cousin Pete was thar splurgin about in the biggest, and with his dandy-cut trowsers and big whiskers.
1845. New York Commercial Advertiser, 13 Dec. Members of Congress should not forget when Senator Benton was shinning around, making what they call in Missouri a great SPLURGE, to get gold.
1856. WHITCHER, The Widow Bedott Papers, 67. Did you see Major Coon’s wife?… Didn’t she CUT a SPLURGE?
1885. Daily Telegraph, 28 Dec. The great SPLURGE made by our American Cousins when … they completed another connection with the Pacific.
1887. C. D. WARNER, Their Pilgrimage, 113. You’d be surprised to know the number of people who come here, buy or build expensive villas, SPLURGE OUT for a year or two, then fail or get tired of it, and disappear.
