spoil
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: spoil
ipa: /spɔɪl/
rhymes: -ɔɪl
Forms: form: spoils
form: spoiling
form: spoiled
form: spoiled
form: spoilt
form: spoilt
Etymology: From Middle English spoilen, spuylen, borrowed from Old French espoillier, espollier, espuler, from Latin spoliāre (“pillage, ruin, spoil”).
Senses: glosses: To strip (someone who has been killed or defeated) of arms or armour.
examples: text: All that herde hym wer amased and sayde: ys nott this he that spoylled them whych called on this name in Jerusalem?
ref: 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts ix:[21]:
text: 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.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
text: Roger, that rich Bishop of Salisbury,[…]spoiled of his goods by King Stephen, […]through grief ran mad, spoke and did he knew not what.
ref: 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition I, section 2, member 4, subsection vii:
glosses: To strip or deprive (someone) of possessions; to rob, despoil.
examples: text: Outlaws, which, lurking in woods, used to break forth to rob and spoil.
ref: 1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC:
glosses: To plunder, pillage (a city, country etc.).
examples: text: No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 3:27:
text: 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.
ref: 1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid, London: T. Passinger, page 35:
text: […] 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.
ref: 1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter XXXVIII, in Mansfield Park: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 18:
glosses: To carry off (goods) by force; to steal.
examples: text: Spiritual pride […] spoils so many graces.
ref: 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC:
text: "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. […]"
ref: 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC:
text: ‘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.’
ref: 2011 August 5, “What the Arab papers say”, in The Economist:
glosses: To ruin; to damage in such a way as to make undesirable or unusable.
glosses: To ruin the character of, by overindulgence; to coddle or pamper to excess.
examples: text: Make sure you put the milk back in the fridge; otherwise it will spoil.
glosses: To go bad; to become sour or rancid; to decay.
raw_tags: of food or drink
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2003, David Nicoll, The Guardian, letter:
glosses: To render (a ballot) invalid by deliberately defacing.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2018 November 14, Jesse Hassenger, “Disney Goes Viral with an Ambitious, Overstuffed Wreck-It Ralph Sequel”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 21 Nov 2019:
glosses: To prematurely reveal major events or the ending of (a story etc.); to ruin (a surprise) by exposing ahead of time as a spoiler.
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: To reduce the lift generated by an airplane or wing by deflecting air upwards, usually with a spoiler.
examples: text: Senator Toombs who announced his readiness to whip Great Britain [...] has been spoiling for a fight ever since
ref: 1858, The Daily Exchange, Baltimore, Md., page 2:
glosses: To be very eager (for something).
Synonyms: sense: ruin
word: damage
sense: ruin
word: destroy
sense: ruin
word: ruin
sense: coddle
word: coddle
sense: coddle
word: pamper
sense: coddle
word: indulge
sense: coddle
word: mollycoddle
word: crab
word: ball up
word: blight
word: botch
word: bugger up
word: bungle
word: dirty
word: undo
word: disrupt
word: disturb
word: fuck up
word: jack up
word: mar
word: mess up
word: mishandle
word: mommick
word: pollute
word: put a crimp in
word: queer
word: screw up
word: sour
word: spoil
word: stain
word: upset
word: turn upside down
word: upset the applecart
word: vitiate
Hypernyms: word: hinder
Hyponyms: word: cook someone's goose
word: drive a coach and horses through
word: put a damper on
Derived terms: one bad apple can spoil the barrel
one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch
Q-spoil
spare the rod and spoil the child
spoilfive
spoiling for a fight
spoil market
spoil-paper
spoil somebody rotten
spoil someone rotten
spoilsport
spoil the market
spoil the ship for a hap'orth of tar
spoil the ship for a ha'p'orth of tar
too many chefs spoil the broth
too many cooks spoil the soup
too many cooks spoil the stew
you must spoil before you spin
Related terms: word: despoil
word: spoilsport