soil
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
soil
n 1: the state of being covered with unclean things [syn:
{dirt}, {filth}, {grime}, {soil}, {stain}, {grease},
{grunge}]
2: the part of the earth's surface consisting of humus and
disintegrated rock [syn: {soil}, {dirt}]
3: material in the top layer of the surface of the earth in
which plants can grow (especially with reference to its
quality or use); "the land had never been plowed"; "good
agricultural soil" [syn: {land}, {ground}, {soil}]
4: the geographical area under the jurisdiction of a sovereign
state; "American troops were stationed on Japanese soil"
[syn: {territory}, {soil}]
v 1: make soiled, filthy, or dirty; "don't soil your clothes
when you play outside!" [syn: {dirty}, {soil}, {begrime},
{grime}, {colly}, {bemire}] [ant: {clean}, {make clean}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Soil \Soil\ (soil), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Soiled} (soild); p. pr.
& vb. n. {Soiling}.] [OF. saoler, saouler, to satiate, F.
so[^u]ler, L. satullare, fr. satullus, dim. of satur sated.
See {Satire}.]
To feed, as cattle or horses, in the barn or an inclosure,
with fresh grass or green food cut for them, instead of
sending them out to pasture; hence (such food having the
effect of purging them), to purge by feeding on green food;
as, to soil a horse.
[1913 Webster]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Soil \Soil\, n. [OE. soile, F. sol, fr. L. solum bottom, soil;
but the word has probably been influenced in form by soil a
miry place. Cf. {Saloon}, {Soil} a miry place, {Sole} of the
foot.]
1. The upper stratum of the earth; the mold, or that compound
substance which furnishes nutriment to plants, or which is
particularly adapted to support and nourish them.
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2. Land; country.
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Must I thus leave thee, Paradise? thus leave
Thee, native soil? --Milton.
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3. Dung; faeces; compost; manure; as, night soil.
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Improve land by dung and other sort of soils.
--Mortimer.
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{Soil pipe}, a pipe or drain for carrying off night soil.
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from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Soil \Soil\, v. t.[OE. soilen, OF. soillier, F. souiller,
(assumed) LL. suculare, fr. L. sucula a little pig, dim. of
sus a swine. See {Sow}, n.]
1. To make dirty or unclean on the surface; to foul; to
dirty; to defile; as, to soil a garment with dust.
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Our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained.
--Milton.
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2. To stain or mar, as with infamy or disgrace; to tarnish;
to sully. --Shak.
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Syn: To foul; dirt; dirty; begrime; bemire; bespatter;
besmear; daub; bedaub; stain; tarnish; sully; defile;
pollute.
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from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Soil \Soil\, n. [OF. soil, souil, F. souille, from OF. soillier,
F. souiller. See {Soil} to make dirty.]
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.
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As deer, being stuck, fly through many soils,
Yet still the shaft sticks fast. --Marston.
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{To take soil}, to run into the mire or water; hence, to take
refuge or shelter.
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O, sir, have you taken soil here? It is well a man
may reach you after three hours' running. --B.
Jonson.
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from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
SOIL. The superficies of the earth on which buildings are erected, or may be
erected.
2. The soil is the principal, and the building, when erected, is the
accessory. Vide Dig. 6, 1, 49.
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
185 Moby Thesaurus words for "soil":
abuse, acres, adobe, airspace, alluvion, alluvium, arable land,
area, attaint, bedaub, befoul, begrime, belt, benasty, besmear,
besmirch, besmoke, besmutch, besoil, bespatter, bestain, betray,
black, blacken, blot, blotch, blow upon, blur, bole, brand,
call names, censure, china clay, clay, clod, confines, contaminate,
continental shelf, corridor, corrupt, country, crust, darken, daub,
debauch, deceive, defame, defile, deflower, demoralize, denigrate,
department, despoil, dirt, dirty, disapprove, discolor, disgrace,
disparage, district, division, drabble, draggle, dregs, dry land,
dust, earth, engage in personalities, environs, excrement, expose,
expose to infamy, filth, force, foul, freehold, gibbet, glebe,
grassland, ground, gumbo, hang in effigy, heap dirt upon,
heartland, hinterland, humus, kaolin, land, landholdings,
lead astray, lithosphere, loam, loess, marginal land, mark, marl,
mess, milieu, mire, mislead, mold, motherland, muck, muckrake,
mucky, mud, muddy, murk, nasty, neighborhood, offshore rights,
part, parts, pillory, place, pollute, porcelain clay, precincts,
premises, purlieus, quarter, rape, ravage, ravish, real estate,
real property, red clay, refuse, region, regolith, reprimand,
revile, ruin, salient, sand, scorch, sear, section, seduce, silt,
singe, slubber, sludge, slur, smear, smirch, smoke, smooch, smouch,
smudge, smut, smutch, sod, soilage, soilure, space, spoil, spot,
stain, stigmatize, subaerial deposit, subsoil, sully, taint, tar,
tarnish, terra, terra firma, terrain, territory, the country,
three-mile limit, throw mud at, till, topsoil, turf,
twelve-mile limit, vicinage, vicinity, vilify, violate, vitiate,
waste matter, woodland, zone
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