Definition of "spoil"

spoil

/spɔɪl/

verb
third-person singular simple present spoils, present participle spoiling, simple past and past participle spoiled or spoilt
1. (transitive, archaic) To strip (someone who has been killed or defeated) of their arms or armour.
2. (transitive, archaic) To strip or deprive (someone) of their possessions; to rob, despoil.
  Quotations
  All that herde hym wer amased and sayde: ys nott this he that spoylled them whych called on this name in Jerusalem?
  1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], Acts ix:]
  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.
  1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie
  Roger, that rich Bishop of Salisbury, […] spoiled of his goods by King Stephen, […] through grief ran mad, spoke and did he knew not what.
  1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, partition I, section 2, member 4, subsection vii
3. (transitive, intransitive, archaic) To plunder, pillage (a city, country etc.).
  Quotations
  Outlaws, which, lurking in woods, used to break forth to rob and spoil.
  1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […]; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809,
4. (transitive, obsolete) To carry off (goods) by force; to steal.
  Quotations
  No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Mark 3:27
  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.
  1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid‎, London: T. Passinger, page 35
  […] 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.
  1814 July, [Jane Austen], chapter XXXVIII, in Mansfield Park: […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] T[homas] Egerton, […]
5. (transitive) To ruin; to damage (something) in some way making it unfit for use.
  Quotations
  Spiritual pride […] spoils so many graces.
  1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […]
  "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. […]"
  1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919
  ‘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.’
  2011 August 5, “What the Arab papers say”, in The Economist
6. (transitive) To ruin the character of, by overindulgence; to coddle or pamper to excess.
7. (intransitive) Of food, to become bad, sour or rancid; to decay.
8. (transitive) To render (a ballot paper) invalid by deliberately defacing it.
  Quotations
  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.
  2003, David Nicoll, The Guardian, letter
9. (transitive) To reveal the ending or major events of (a story etc.); to ruin (a surprise) by exposing it ahead of time.
  Quotations
  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.
  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 November 2019
10. (aviation) To reduce the lift generated by an airplane or wing by deflecting air upwards, usually with a spoiler.
noun
plural spoils
1. (Also in plural: spoils) Plunder taken from an enemy or victim.
  Quotations
  Thoſe thouſand horſe shall ſweat with martiall ſpoyleOf conquered kingdomes, and of Cities ſackt, […]
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, (please specify the page)
2. (archaic) The act of taking plunder from an enemy or victim; spoliation, pillage, rapine.
  Quotations
  This countrey ſwarmes with vile outragious men,That liue by rapine and by lawleſſe ſpoile,Fit ſouldiers for the wicked Tamburlaine.
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, (please specify the page)
3. (uncountable) 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.
  Quotations
  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."
  1961 December, “Planning the London Midland main-line electrification”, in Trains Illustrated, page 721

Definition of "spoil"

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noun

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