The upper stratum of the earth; the mold, or that compound substance which furnishes nutriment to plants, or which is particularly adapted to support and nourish them.
Dung; faeces; compost; manure; as, night soil. "Improve land by dung and other sort of soils."
Soil pipe, a pipe or drain for carrying off night soil.
Soil n. A marshy or miry place to which a hunted boar resorts for refuge; hence, a wet place, stream, or tract of water, sought for by other game, as deer. "As deer, being stuck, fly through many soils, Yet still the shaft sticks fast."
To take soil, to run into the mire or water; hence, to take refuge or shelter. "O, sir, have you taken soil here? It is well a man may reach you after three hours' running."
Soil n. That which soils or pollutes; a soiled place; spot; stain. "A lady's honor... will not bear a soil."
verb
Soil v. t. (past & past part. soiled; pres. part. soiling) To feed, as cattle or horses, in the barn or an inclosure, with fresh grass or green food cut for them, instead of sending them out to pasture; hence (such food having the effect of purging them), to purge by feeding on green food; as, to soil a horse.
Soil v. t. To enrich with soil or muck; to manure. "Men... soil their ground, not that they love the dirt, but that they expect a crop."
Soil v. t.
1.
To make dirty or unclean on the surface; to foul; to dirty; to defile; as, to soil a garment with dust. "Our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained."
2.
To stain or mar, as with infamy or disgrace; to tarnish; to sully.
... among whose roots, no doubt, was the den of the bear. The tree itself grew up out of the sloping bank; and its great rhizomes stretched over a large space, many of them appearing above the surface soil. In front of the aperture was a little ledge, where the snow was hacked by the bear's paws, but below this ledge the bank trended steeply down—its slope terminating in the bed of deeper ... — Bruin - The Grand Bear Hunt • Mayne Reid Read full book for free!
... That on French soil he seemed in anything but a subsidiary position, that he appeared to rule rather than to obey, could in no way appear to Marguerite in ... — The Elusive Pimpernel • Baroness Emmuska Orczy Read full book for free!
... seen in the naturalization of vulgar foreigners, devoid of talent, who are enthroned in the Chamber of Peers! What a perversion of justice! What an insult to the distinguished youth, the ambitions native to the soil of France! We looked upon these things as upon a spectacle, and groaned over them, without taking ... — Z. Marcas • Honore de Balzac Read full book for free!
... to Sir Guy Carleton, commending in such warm terms the advantages of Shelburne, he took occasion at the same time to disparage the country about the river St John. 'I greatly fear,' he wrote, 'the soil and fertility of that part of this province is overrated by people who have explored it partially. I wish it may turn out otherwise, but have my fears that there is scarce good land enough ... — The United Empire Loyalists - A Chronicle of the Great Migration - Volume 13 (of 32) in the series Chronicles of Canada • W. Stewart Wallace Read full book for free!
... garden with somewhat the same attachment that a French peasant bears for the soil upon which he has been reared. She rejoiced in every yard of it. To go away and resign it to others would be tragedy unspeakable. The fear that Aunt Harriet might recommend the family to leave Highfield was sufficient to darken her horizon indefinitely. That her mother ... — The Luckiest Girl in the School • Angela Brazil Read full book for free!
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