And this is the reason there's fine print all over everything. You'd take the money to the bank and exchange it for a different currency denomination. Technically you don't have the money you were given anymore.

Any exchange of money for goods or services is spending it. Not all exchanges are instant. Not all spending is exchanging it for goods and services.

Most definitions are something like: "to give money as a payment for something" - Cambridge "To use up or pay out" - Webster "To pay out or away; to disburse or expend; to dispose of, or deprive oneself of, in this way" -Oxford

In most legal and financial contexts money willingly disposed of and specifically money willingly given to a 2nd party would be considered "spent".

You can donate your money, decline a receipt, and have spent the money with no goods or services in exchange. You can spend the money today with the expectation of goods or services and not receive them immediately or, sometimes, ever. If you choose to throw 20 grand in the garbage that probably counts as spending it by some definitions.