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.

2. spoil(Noun)

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

3. spoil(Verb)

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

4. spoil(Verb)

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

5. spoil(Verb)

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

6. spoil(Verb)

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

7. spoil(Verb)

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

8. spoil(Verb)

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

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.

10. spoil(Verb)

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

11. spoil(Verb)

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

Origin: 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

2. Spoil(verb)

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

3. Spoil(verb)

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

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

5. Spoil(verb)

   to practice plunder or robbery

6. Spoil(verb)

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

7. Spoil(noun)

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

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

9. Spoil(noun)

   that which is gained by strength or effort

10. Spoil(noun)

    the act or practice of plundering; robbery; aste

11. Spoil(noun)

    corruption; cause of corruption

12. Spoil(noun)

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

Origin: [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

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. Anonymous:

   A single fact can spoil a good argument.

2. Fran Lebowitz:

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

3. Stanley Tucci:

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

4. Aesop:

   You may share the labours of the great, but you may not share the spoil.

5. Leonardo DaVinci:

   Just as iron rusts from disuse, even so does inaction spoil the intellect.

Images & Illustrations of spoil

Popularity rank by frequency of use