耗费资财 meaning in English

whittle away a fortune

On that first evening that bolkonsky spent with him , they talked of the commission for the revision of the legal code ; and speransky described ironically to prince andrey how the commission had been sitting for one hundred and fifty years , had cost millions , and had done nothing , and how rosenkampf had pasted labels on all the various legislative codes
博尔孔斯基在斯佩兰斯基那里度过的头一个夜晚，斯佩兰斯基畅谈法律编辑委员会的情形，他带着讥讽的口气向他讲到，法律编辑委员会成立五十年，耗费资财几百万，毫无作为，只有罗森坎普夫在那比较法条文上贴了一张张标签。