spoil

present singular third person spoils · participle present spoiling · participle past spoiled · past spoiled · participle past spoilt · past spoilt

1. archaictransitiveTo strip (someone who has been killed or defeated) of arms or armour.First known use 14th c.
2. archaictransitiveTo strip or deprive (someone) of possessions; to rob, despoil.First known use 14th c.

   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], →OCLC, Acts ix:[21]

   2 more examples

   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, →OCLC

   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: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition I, section 2, member 4, subsection vii

3. ambitransitivearchaicTo plunder, pillage (a city, country etc.).First known use 14th c.

   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, […], →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

4. obsoletetransitiveTo carry off (goods) by force; to steal.First known use 14th–19th c.

   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, […], →OCLC, Mark 3:27

   3 more examples

   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 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter XXXVIII, in Mansfield Park: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC

   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.

   1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 18

5. transitiveTo ruin; to damage in such a way as to make undesirable or unusable.First known use 16th c.

   All this sun spoils me for vacations in the far North.

   3 more examples

   Spiritual pride […] spoils so many graces.

   1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC

   "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 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC

   ‘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

   Synonyms: damage, destroy, sully, ruin

6. transitiveTo ruin the character of, by overindulgence; to coddle or pamper to excess.First known use 17th c.

   Synonyms: coddle, pamper, indulge, mollycoddle

7. intransitiveTo go bad; to become sour or rancid; to decay.First known use 17th c.

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

8. transitiveTo render (a ballot) invalid by deliberately defacing.First known use 19th c.

   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. transitiveTo prematurely reveal major events or the ending of (a story etc.); to ruin (a surprise) by exposing ahead of time as a spoiler.

   1 more example

   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 Nov 2019

10. aeronauticsTo reduce the lift generated by an airplane or wing by deflecting air upwards, usually with a spoiler.
11. intransitiveTo be very eager (for something).First known use 19th c.

    Senator Toombs who announced his readiness to whip Great Britain [...] has been spoiling for a fight ever since

    1858, The Daily Exchange, Baltimore, Md., page 2

plural spoils

1. Also in plural: spoilsPlunder taken from an enemy or victim.

   Thoſe thouſand horſe shall ſweat with martiall ſpoyle Of conquered kingdomes, and of Cities ſackt, […]

   c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii

   Synonyms: booty

2. archaicThe act of taking plunder from an enemy or victim; spoliation, pillage, rapine.

   This countrey ſwarmes with vile outragious men, That liue by rapine and by lawleſſe ſpoile, Fit ſouldiers for the wicked Tamburlaine.

   c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii

3. uncountableMaterial (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.

   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

   Synonyms: gangue, slag, tailings