/spɔɪl/
OriginFrom Middle English spoilen, spuylen, borrowed from Old French espoillier, espollier, espuler, from Latin spoliāre (“pillage, ruin, spoil”).
- archaic, transitiveTo strip (someone who has been killed or defeated) of arms or armour.
- archaic, transitiveTo strip or deprive (someone) of possessions; to rob, despoil.
“All that herde hym wer amased and sayde: ys nott this he that spoylled them whych called on this name in Jerusalem?”
“To do her dye (quoth Vna) were despight, / And shame t'auenge so weake an enimy; / But spoile her of her scarlot robe, and let her fly.”
“Roger, that rich Bishop of Salisbury,[…]spoiled of his goods by King Stephen, […]through grief ran mad, spoke and did he knew not what.”
- ambitransitive, archaicTo plunder, pillage (a city, country etc.).
“Outlaws, which, lurking in woods, used to break forth to rob and spoil.”
- obsolete, transitiveTo carry off (goods) by force; to steal.
“No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man.”
“They must likewise endeavour to be careful in looking after the rest of the Servants, that every one perform their duty in their several places, that they keep good hours in their up-rising and lying ”
“[…] it was her own knife; little sister Mary had left it to her upon her deathbed, and she ought to have had it to keep herself long ago. But mama kept it from her, and was always letting Betsey get h”
- transitiveTo ruin; to damage in such a way as to make undesirable or unusable.
“All this sun spoils me for vacations in the far North.”
“Spiritual pride […] spoils so many graces.”
“"I don't want to spoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim, "but I was at Winchester and New College." ¶ "That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I wa”
- transitiveTo ruin the character of, by overindulgence; to coddle or pamper to excess.
- intransitiveTo go bad; to become sour or rancid; to decay.
“Make sure you put the milk back in the fridge; otherwise it will spoil.”
- transitiveTo render (a ballot) invalid by deliberately defacing.
“Dr Jonathan Grant (Letters, April 22) feels the best way to show his disaffection with political parties over Iraq is to spoil his ballot paper.”
- transitiveTo prematurely reveal major events or the ending of (a story etc.); to ruin (a surprise) by exposing ahead of time as a spoiler.
“These include a brief but showstopping (and trailer-revealed) scene where Vanellope crashes a Disney Princess reunion, packed with gags and references that should send both young and old fans into par”
- To reduce the lift generated by an airplane or wing by deflecting air upwards, usually with a spoiler.
- intransitiveTo be very eager (for something).
“Senator Toombs who announced his readiness to whip Great Britain [...] has been spoiling for a fight ever since”
- Plunder taken from an enemy or victim.
“Thoſe thouſand horſe shall ſweat with martiall ſpoyle
Of conquered kingdomes, and of Cities ſackt, […]”
- archaicThe act of taking plunder from an enemy or victim; spoliation, pillage, rapine.
“This countrey ſwarmes with vile outragious men,
That liue by rapine and by lawleſſe ſpoile,
Fit ſouldiers for the wicked Tamburlaine.”
- uncountableMaterial (such as rock or earth) removed in the course of an excavation, or in mining or dredging. Tailings. Such material could be utilised somewhere else.
“In view of the decline in freight traffic, it was strange to hear from Mr. Lambert that there is "a continuing problem of supplying, particularly for the civil engineer, the number of wagons required ”
Formsspoils(present, singular, third-person) · spoiling(participle, present) · spoiled(participle, past) · spoiled(past) · spoilt(participle, past) · spoilt(past) · spoils(plural)