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Spoil   /spɔɪl/   Listen
verb
Spoil  v. t.  (past & past part. spoilt or spoiled; pres. part. spoiling)  
1.
To plunder; to strip by violence; to pillage; to rob; with of before the name of the thing taken; as, to spoil one of his goods or possessions. "Ye shall spoil the Egyptians." "My sons their old, unhappy sire despise, Spoiled of his kingdom, and deprived of eyes."
2.
To seize by violence; to take by force; to plunder. "No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man."
3.
To cause to decay and perish; to corrupt; to vitiate; to mar. "Spiritual pride spoils many graces."
4.
To render useless by injury; to injure fatally; to ruin; to destroy; as, to spoil paper; to have the crops spoiled by insects; to spoil the eyes by reading.


Spoil  v. i.  (past & past part. spoilt or spoiled; pres. part. spoiling)  
1.
To practice plunder or robbery. "Outlaws, which, lurking in woods, used to break forth to rob and spoil."
2.
To lose the valuable qualities; to be corrupted; to decay; as, fruit will soon spoil in warm weather.


noun
Spoil  n.  
1.
That which is taken from another by violence; especially, the plunder taken from an enemy; pillage; booty. "Gentle gales, Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole Those balmy spoils."
2.
Public offices and their emoluments regarded as the peculiar property of a successful party or faction, to be bestowed for its own advantage; commonly in the plural; as, to the victor belong the spoils. "From a principle of gratitude I adhered to the coalition; my vote was counted in the day of battle, but I was overlooked in the division of the spoil."
3.
That which is gained by strength or effort. "Each science and each art his spoil."
4.
The act or practice of plundering; robbery; waste. "The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treason, stratagems, and spoils."
5.
Corruption; cause of corruption. (Archaic) "Villainous company hath been the spoil of me."
6.
The slough, or cast skin, of a serpent or other animal. (Obs.)
Spoil bank, a bank formed by the earth taken from an excavation, as of a canal.
The spoils system, the theory or practice of regarding public offices and their emoluments as so much plunder to be distributed among their active partisans by those who are chosen to responsible offices of administration.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Spoil" Quotes from Famous Books



... of the prairie, she smiles to her sire—the sun, Robed in the wealth of her wheat-lands, gift of her mothering soil, Affluence knocks at her gateways, opulence waits to be won. Nuggets of gold are her acres, yielding and yellow with spoil, Dream of the hungry millions, dawn of the food-filled age, Over the starving tale of want her fingers have turned the page; Nations will nurse at her storehouse, and God ...
— Flint and Feather • E. Pauline Johnson
... told me all at once, that they were French Protestants lately arrived in Great-Britain, and that finding themselves of too Gay a Humour for my Country, they applyed themselves to me in order to compose them for British Conversation. I told them, that to oblige them I would soon spoil their Mirth; upon which I admitted a whole Shole of them, who, after having taken a Survey of the Place, came out in a very good Order, and with Looks entirely English. I afterwards put in a Dutch ...
— The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - With Translations and Index for the Series • Joseph Addison and Richard Steele
... over him with his hatchet, and cut off his head and quartered him. Philip had one remarkable hand, which was much scarred by the explosion of a pistol. This hand was given to Alderman, who shot him, as his share of the spoil. Alderman preserved it in rum, and carried it around the country as a show, "and accordingly," says Captain Church, "he got many a penny by it." We would gladly doubt the statement, if we could, that the head of this ill-fated ...
— King Philip - Makers of History • John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott
... up the petticoat as though she would put it away; but presently she laid it down again and smoothed it with quick, nervous fingers. "Can't you talk sense and leave my clothes alone? If Jake comes, and I'm not here, and he wants to make a fuss, and spoil everything, and won't wait, you give him this petticoat. You put it in his arms. I bet you'll have the laugh on ...
— Northern Lights • Gilbert Parker
... we disdain him, we look at him with contempt; nay, more, instead of making any effort to cultivate his mind, we try to spoil it by ...
— International Weekly Miscellany, Vol. 1, No. 5, July 29, 1850 • Various


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