Definitions for spoil
spɔɪlspoil

Princeton's WordNet(3.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. spoil(noun)

   (usually plural) valuables taken by violence (especially in war)

   "to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy"

2. spoil, spoiling, spoilage(noun)

   the act of spoiling something by causing damage to it

   "her spoiling my dress was deliberate"

3. spoil, spoliation, spoilation, despoilation, despoilment, despoliation(verb)

   the act of stripping and taking by force

4. botch, bodge, bumble, fumble, botch up, muff, blow, flub, screw up, ball up, spoil, muck up, bungle, fluff, bollix, bollix up, bollocks, bollocks up, bobble, mishandle, louse up, foul up, mess up, fuck up(verb)

   make a mess of, destroy or ruin

   "I botched the dinner and we had to eat out"; "the pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movement"

5. spoil, go bad(verb)

   become unfit for consumption or use

   "the meat must be eaten before it spoils"

6. corrupt, spoil(verb)

   alter from the original

7. pamper, featherbed, cosset, cocker, baby, coddle, mollycoddle, spoil, indulge(verb)

   treat with excessive indulgence

   "grandparents often pamper the children"; "Let's not mollycoddle our students!"

8. thwart, queer, spoil, scotch, foil, cross, frustrate, baffle, bilk(verb)

   hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of

   "What ultimately frustrated every challenger was Ruth's amazing September surge"; "foil your opponent"

9. itch, spoil(verb)

   have a strong desire or urge to do something

   "She is itching to start the project"; "He is spoiling for a fight"

10. rape, spoil, despoil, violate, plunder(verb)

    destroy and strip of its possession

    "The soldiers raped the beautiful country"

11. mar, impair, spoil, deflower, vitiate(verb)

    make imperfect

    "nothing marred her beauty"

Wiktionary(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. spoil(Noun)

   (Also in plural: spoils) Plunder taken from an enemy or victim.

   Etymology: From espoillier, from spoliare, present active infinitive of spolio.

2. spoil(Noun)

   Material (such as rock or earth) removed in the course of an excavation, or in mining or dredging. Tailings.

   Etymology: From espoillier, from spoliare, present active infinitive of spolio.

3. spoil(Verb)

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

   Etymology: From espoillier, from spoliare, present active infinitive of spolio.

4. spoil(Verb)

   To strip or deprive (someone) of their possessions; to rob, despoil.

   Etymology: From espoillier, from spoliare, present active infinitive of spolio.

5. spoil(Verb)

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

   Etymology: From espoillier, from spoliare, present active infinitive of spolio.

6. spoil(Verb)

   To carry off (goods) by force; to steal.

   Etymology: From espoillier, from spoliare, present active infinitive of spolio.

7. spoil(Verb)

   To ruin; to damage (something) in some way making it unfit for use.

   Etymology: From espoillier, from spoliare, present active infinitive of spolio.

8. spoil(Verb)

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

   Etymology: From espoillier, from spoliare, present active infinitive of spolio.

9. spoil(Verb)

   Of food, to become bad, sour or rancid; to decay.

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

   Etymology: From espoillier, from spoliare, present active infinitive of spolio.

10. spoil(Verb)

    To render (a ballot paper) invalid by deliberately defacing it.

    Etymology: From espoillier, from spoliare, present active infinitive of spolio.

11. spoil(Verb)

    To reveal the ending of (a story etc.); to ruin (a surprise) by exposing it ahead of time.

    Etymology: From espoillier, from spoliare, present active infinitive of spolio.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Spoil(verb)

   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 possession

   Etymology: [F. spolier, OF. espoillier, fr. L. spoliare, fr. spolium spoil. Cf. Despoil, Spoliation.]

2. Spoil(verb)

   to seize by violence;; to take by force; to plunder

   Etymology: [F. spolier, OF. espoillier, fr. L. spoliare, fr. spolium spoil. Cf. Despoil, Spoliation.]

3. Spoil(verb)

   to cause to decay and perish; to corrput; to vitiate; to mar

   Etymology: [F. spolier, OF. espoillier, fr. L. spoliare, fr. spolium spoil. Cf. Despoil, Spoliation.]

4. Spoil(verb)

   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

   Etymology: [F. spolier, OF. espoillier, fr. L. spoliare, fr. spolium spoil. Cf. Despoil, Spoliation.]

5. Spoil(verb)

   to practice plunder or robbery

   Etymology: [F. spolier, OF. espoillier, fr. L. spoliare, fr. spolium spoil. Cf. Despoil, Spoliation.]

6. Spoil(verb)

   to lose the valuable qualities; to be corrupted; to decay; as, fruit will soon spoil in warm weather

   Etymology: [F. spolier, OF. espoillier, fr. L. spoliare, fr. spolium spoil. Cf. Despoil, Spoliation.]

7. Spoil(noun)

   that which is taken from another by violence; especially, the plunder taken from an enemy; pillage; booty

   Etymology: [F. spolier, OF. espoillier, fr. L. spoliare, fr. spolium spoil. Cf. Despoil, Spoliation.]

8. Spoil(noun)

   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

   Etymology: [F. spolier, OF. espoillier, fr. L. spoliare, fr. spolium spoil. Cf. Despoil, Spoliation.]

9. Spoil(noun)

   that which is gained by strength or effort

   Etymology: [F. spolier, OF. espoillier, fr. L. spoliare, fr. spolium spoil. Cf. Despoil, Spoliation.]

10. Spoil(noun)

    the act or practice of plundering; robbery; aste

    Etymology: [F. spolier, OF. espoillier, fr. L. spoliare, fr. spolium spoil. Cf. Despoil, Spoliation.]

11. Spoil(noun)

    corruption; cause of corruption

    Etymology: [F. spolier, OF. espoillier, fr. L. spoliare, fr. spolium spoil. Cf. Despoil, Spoliation.]

12. Spoil(noun)

    the slough, or cast skin, of a serpent or other animal

    Etymology: [F. spolier, OF. espoillier, fr. L. spoliare, fr. spolium spoil. Cf. Despoil, Spoliation.]

Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Spoil

   In Archaeology, spoil is the term used for the soil, dirt and rubble that results from an excavation, and discarded off site on spoil heaps. These heaps are commonly accessed by barrow runs.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Spoil

   spoil, v.t. to take by force: to plunder.—v.i. to practise robbery.—n. prey, plunder: pillage: robbery.—n. Spoil′er, one who spoils, a plunderer.—n.pl. Spō′lia opī′ma, the most valued spoils—taken by a Roman commander from the enemy's commander in single combat; hence supreme rewards or honours generally. [O. Fr. espoille—L. spolium, spoil.]

2. Spoil

   spoil, v.t. to corrupt: to mar: to make useless.—v.i. to decay: to become useless.—ns. Spoil′er, a corrupter; Spoil′-five, a round game of cards played with the whole pack, each one of the three to ten players receiving five cards.—adj. Spoil′ful (Spens.), wasteful, rapacious.—n. Spoils′man, one who looks for profit out of politics. [Same as above word.]

British National Corpus

1. Verbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'spoil' in Verbs Frequency: #869

Anagrams for spoil »

1. polis

How to pronounce spoil?

1. 

   Alex

   US English

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

How to say spoil in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of spoil in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of spoil in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of spoil in a Sentence

1. W. R. Inge:

   Consciousness is a phase of mental life which arises in connection with the formation of new habits. When habit is formed, consciousness only interferes to spoil our performance.

2. Fran Lebowitz:

   Success didn't spoil me, I've always been insufferable.

3. RVM:

   Very often, we let little things spoil some of our most important treasures—our Moment, our Day, our Life. -RVM

4. Stanley Tucci:

   I ’m trying [ to spoil her ], yes of course, being very attentive.

5. Phil Ward:

   We are a family airline and holiday company carrying millions of passengers every year, these are people who have chosen to take their well-earned summer breaks with us and we want them to have a wonderful time. Therefore, under no circumstances will we allow the disruptive few to spoil the experience for the majority of the fantastic customers that fly with us.

Images & Illustrations of spoil

Popularity rank by frequency of use