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spoil

Syllabification: (spoil)
Pronunciation: /spoil/

Translate spoil | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of spoil

verb (past and past participle spoiled or chiefly Britishspoilt /spoilt/)

[with object]
  • 1diminish or destroy the value or quality of:I wouldn’t want to spoil your fun a series of political blunders spoiled their chances of being re-elected
  • prevent someone from enjoying (an occasion or event):she was afraid of spoiling Christmas for the rest of the family
  • [no object] (of food) become unfit for eating:I’ve got some ham that’ll spoil if we don’t eat it tonight
  • 2harm the character of (a child) by being too lenient or indulgent:the last thing I want to do is spoil Thomas (as adjective spoiled)a spoiled child
  • treat with great or excessive kindness, consideration, or generosity:breakfast in bed—you’re spoiling me!
  • 3 [no object] (be spoiling for) be extremely or aggressively eager for:Cooper was spoiling for a fight
  • 4 archaic rob (a person or a place) of goods or possessions by force or violence.

noun

  • 1 (usually spoils) goods stolen or taken forcibly from a person or place:the looters carried their spoils away
  • 2waste material brought up during the course of an excavation or a dredging or mining operation.

Origin:

Middle English (in the sense 'to plunder'): shortening of Old French espoille (noun), espoillier (verb), from Latin spoliare, from spolium 'plunder, skin stripped from an animal', or a shortening of despoil

spoil in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of spoil in the British & World English dictionary