spoil

verb

1. 1

   archaicTo strip (someone who has been killed or defeated) of arms or armour.

2. 2

   archaicTo 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.

3. 3

   archaicTo plunder, pillage (a city, country etc.).

   Outlaws, which, lurking in woods, used to break forth to rob and spoil.

4. 4

   obsoleteTo 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 down, and that no Goods be either spoiled or embezelled.

   […] 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 hold of it; and the end of it would be that Betsey would spoil it, and get it for her own, though mama had promised her that Betsey should not have it in her own hands.

   There is hardly a trace of metal left in the Palace at Knossos. In one corner only, on the north-west, a friendly floor level seems to have sunk just before the plunderers entered it, and hidden from their view five splendid bronze vessels. They are all that remain to us […] to tell us what the gold and silver work was like that was spoiled from Knossos.

5. 5

   To 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 was twelve. […]"

   ‘This is a great day for us. Let us not spoil it by saying the wrong thing, by promoting a culture of revenge, or by failing to treat the former president with respect.’

6. 6

   To ruin the character of, by overindulgence; to coddle or pamper to excess.

7. 7

   To go bad; to become sour or rancid; to decay.

   Make sure you put the milk back in the fridge; otherwise it will spoil.

8. 8

   To 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.

9. 9

   To 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 paroxysms of glee. The princess confab also leads into a scene featuring Vanellope and the cast of Slaughter Race that probably shouldn’t be spoiled.

10. 10

    To reduce the lift generated by an airplane or wing by deflecting air upwards, usually with a spoiler.

11. 11

    To be very eager (for something).

    Senator Toombs who announced his readiness to whip Great Britain [...] has been spoiling for a fight ever since

noun

1. 1

   Plunder taken from an enemy or victim.

   Thoſe thouſand horſe shall ſweat with martiall ſpoyle Of conquered kingdomes, and of Cities ſackt, […]

2. 2

   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.

3. 3

   Material (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 for carrying construction materials and spoil for various works."

Forms

plural

spoils

past tense

spoiled, spoilt

past participle

spoiled, spoilt

present participle

spoiling

third person singular

spoils