I am struggling with how to express the idea that somebody sold out some article of his possession (computer, car, house, etc.) and used the money to buy himself alcohol to drink.
For example,
— Where is his computer?
— Well, he squandered it on drink.
Dictionaries show that "to squander on drink" is okay; but when I type in Google Search "squandered his car on drink", I get zero results, which makes me think that there might be some better and more common ways of expressing the same thought.
Best Answer
While you can squander money on drink, you cannot generally squander anything else on drink. The top dictionary definition of "squander" is "to spend or use (money, time, etc.) extravagantly or wastefully." You cannot "spend" a car or a computer, so it doesn't make sense to squander them either.
Strangely, using "drink" idiomatically to mean "alcohol" is almost always done in the context of wasting money, time, or opportunity:
Otherwise, native speakers tend to use a different slang term, such as "booze", or a more literal or specific term like "liquor," "beer," or even just "alchohol."
Edit: To clarify, I am talking about using the word "drink" as a mass noun with no article, equivalent to "beer" or "water." Using it as a verb ("I drink to forget my troubles") or as a singular verb ("Let's go out and get a drink") are often used to imply alcohol in many contexts.
Here are some alternatives that I think communicates what you're trying to say. I'm ordering them roughly from most straightforward to most judgmental:
"Squander" is a funny-sounding word, and normally used only in specific contexts. The most common phrases using "squander," as far as I'm aware, are: