soil
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From Middle English soile, soyle, sule (“ground, earth”), partly from Anglo-Norman soyl (“bottom, ground, pavement”), from Latin solium (“seat, chair; throne”), mistaken for Latin solum (“ground, foundation, earth, sole of the foot”); and partly from Old English sol (“mud, mire, wet sand”), from Proto-Germanic *sulą (“mud, spot”), from Proto-Indo-European *sūl- (“thick liquid”). Cognate with Middle Low German söle (“dirt, mud”), Middle Dutch sol (“dirt, filth”), Middle High German sol, söl (“dirt, mud, mire”), Danish søle (“mud, muck”). Compare French seuil (“level; threshold”) and sol (“soil, earth; ground”). See also sole, soal, solum.
For the sole and soil relation, compare typologically Russian по́чва (póčva) akin to подо́шва (podóšva).
Inflected forms:
form: soils
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: soyl
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: soils
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: soiling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: soiled
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: soiled
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A mixture of mineral particles and organic material, used to support plant growth.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: We bought a bag of soil for the houseplants.
gloss: The unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the immediate surface of the earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of land plants.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
gloss: The unconsolidated mineral or organic matter on the surface of the earth that has been subjected to and shows effects of genetic and environmental factors of: climate (including water and temperature effects), and macro- and microorganisms, conditioned by relief, acting on parent material over a period of time. A product-soil differs from the material from which it is derived in many physical, chemical, biological, and morphological properties and characteristics.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
gloss: Country or territory.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Except during the season in town, she spends her year in golfing, either at St Magnus or Pau, for, like all good Americans, she has long since abjured her native soil.
Pro-democracy demonstrations in the Thai capital saw Germany's embassy become the focus Monday as the throngs of protesters gathered in front of the mission asked Berlin to investigate whether King Maha Vajiralongkorn is inappropriately conducting state business on German soil.
gloss: That which soils or pollutes; a stain.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: And ſince not only a dead Fathers fame, / But more a Ladies honour muſt be touch’d, / Which nice as Ermines will not bear a Soil ; / Let all retire ; that you alone may hear / What ev’n in whiſpers I won’d tell your ear.
gloss: A marshy or miry place to which a hunted boar resorts for refuge; hence, a wet place, stream, or tract of water, sought for by other game, as deer.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: As Deere being ſtrucke flie thorow many ſoiles, / Yet ſtill the ſhaft ſitcks faſt, ſo ;
gloss: Dung; compost; manure.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: night soil
HAving given you an Account of the way of ordering of Meadows, Paſtures and Arable Land, with ſeveral Sorts of Improvement of them ; I ſhall in the next place proceed to give an Account of the ſeveral ways uſed to improve Land by Manure, Dung, and other Sort of Soils.
gloss: To make dirty.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: […]Bad Fruit of Knowledge, if this be to know, / Which leaves us naked thus, of Honour void, / Of innocence, of Faith, of Puritie, / Our wonted Ornaments now ſoild and ſtaind, / And in our Faces evident the ſignes / Of foul concupiſcence ; whence eveil ſtore ; / Even ſhame, the laſt of evils ; of the firſt / Be ſure then.
gloss: To become dirty or soiled.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Light colours soil sooner than dark ones.
gloss: To stain or mar, as with infamy or disgrace; to tarnish; to sully.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
examples: […]They clip vs drunkards, and with Swiniſh phraſe / Soyle our addition, and indeede it takes / From our atchieuements, though perform’d at height / The pith and marrow of our attribute[…]
gloss: To dirty one's clothing by accidentally defecating while clothed.
pos: verb
tags: reflexive
examples: The child was so scared she soiled herself.
gloss: To make invalid, to ruin.
pos: verb
gloss: To enrich with soil or muck; to manure.
pos: verb
examples: For to be kind to the former is traffic ; and in these times men present, just as they soil their ground, not that they love the dirt, but that they expect a crop : and for the latter, the politician well approves of the Indian’s religion, in worshiping the devil, that he may do him no hurt ; how much soever he hates him, and is hated by him.
Synonyms: dirt
earth
Related words: solum
alluvium
Derived words: ABC soil
antisoil
assoil
besoil
black cotton soil
blood and soil
desert soil
desoil
fill soil
Free-Soilism
garden soil
gleysoil
green soil
home soil
hydrosoil
native soil
neosoil
night soil
night-soil
night soil man
nonsoil
paleosoil
potting soil
racy of one's soil
racy of the soil
resoil
sandy soil
soilable
soil acidification
soil biochemistry
soilborne
soil centipede
soil chemistry
soil classification
soil conservation
soil creep
soiler
soil fertility
soilflow
soil genesis
soilish
soilization
soilless
soillike
soil management
soil mechanics
soil microbiology
soil mineralogy
soil moisture deficit
soil nail
soil physics
soil pipe
soil pollution
soilproof
soilscape
soil science
soil scientist
soil series
soilsome
soil stabiliser
soil stack
soil sterilant
soily
son of the soil
subsoil
supersoil
swelling soil
take soil
topsoil
top soil
undersoil
unsoil
unsoiling
virgin soil
virgin soil epidemic
soil one's pants
soil oneself
soilage
Translations: