spoil

spoil
    n 1: (usually plural) valuables taken by violence (especially in
         war); "to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy"
    2: the act of spoiling something by causing damage to it; "her
       spoiling my dress was deliberate" [syn: {spoil}, {spoiling},
       {spoilage}]
    3: the act of stripping and taking by force [syn: {spoil},
       {spoliation}, {spoilation}, {despoilation}, {despoilment},
       {despoliation}]
    v 1: make a mess of, destroy or ruin; "I botched the dinner and
         we had to eat out"; "the pianist screwed up the difficult
         passage in the second movement" [syn: {botch}, {bodge},
         {bumble}, {fumble}, {botch up}, {muff}, {blow}, {flub},
         {screw up}, {ball up}, {spoil}, {muck up}, {bungle},
         {fluff}, {bollix}, {bollix up}, {bollocks}, {bollocks up},
         {bobble}, {mishandle}, {louse up}, {foul up}, {mess up},
         {fuck up}]
    2: become unfit for consumption or use; "the meat must be eaten
       before it spoils" [syn: {spoil}, {go bad}]
    3: alter from the original [syn: {corrupt}, {spoil}]
    4: treat with excessive indulgence; "grandparents often pamper
       the children"; "Let's not mollycoddle our students!" [syn:
       {pamper}, {featherbed}, {cosset}, {cocker}, {baby}, {coddle},
       {mollycoddle}, {spoil}, {indulge}]
    5: hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of; "What
       ultimately frustrated every challenger was Ruth's amazing
       September surge"; "foil your opponent" [syn: {thwart},
       {queer}, {spoil}, {scotch}, {foil}, {cross}, {frustrate},
       {baffle}, {bilk}]
    6: have a strong desire or urge to do something; "She is itching
       to start the project"; "He is spoiling for a fight" [syn:
       {itch}, {spoil}]
    7: destroy and strip of its possession; "The soldiers raped the
       beautiful country" [syn: {rape}, {spoil}, {despoil},
       {violate}, {plunder}]
    8: make imperfect; "nothing marred her beauty" [syn: {mar},
       {impair}, {spoil}, {deflower}, {vitiate}]
    

Spoil \Spoil\ (spoil), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Spoiled} (spoild) or
   {Spoilt} (spoilt); p. pr. & vb. n. {Spoiling}.] [F. spolier,
   OF. espoillier, fr. L. spoliare, fr. spolium spoil. Cf.
   {Despoil}, {Spoliation}.]
   1. To plunder; to strip by violence; to pillage; to rob; --
      with of before the name of the thing taken; as, to spoil
      one of his goods or possessions. "Ye shall spoil the
      Egyptians." --Ex. iii. 22.
      [1913 Webster]

            My sons their old, unhappy sire despise,
            Spoiled of his kingdom, and deprived of eyes.
                                                  --Pope.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To seize by violence; to take by force; to plunder.
      [1913 Webster]

            No man can enter into a strong man's house, and
            spoil his goods, except he will first bind the
            strong man.                           --Mark iii.
                                                  27.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To cause to decay and perish; to corrupt; to vitiate; to
      mar.
      [1913 Webster]

            Spiritual pride spoils many graces.   --Jer. Taylor.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To render useless by injury; to injure fatally; to ruin;
      to destroy; as, to spoil paper; to have the crops spoiled
      by insects; to spoil the eyes by reading.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Spoil \Spoil\, n. [Cf. OF. espoille, L. spolium.]
   1. That which is taken from another by violence; especially,
      the plunder taken from an enemy; pillage; booty.
      [1913 Webster]

            Gentle gales,
            Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense
            Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole
            Those balmy spoils.                   --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Public offices and their emoluments regarded as the
      peculiar property of a successful party or faction, to be
      bestowed for its own advantage; -- commonly in the plural;
      as, to the victor belong the spoils.
      [1913 Webster]

            From a principle of gratitude I adhered to the
            coalition; my vote was counted in the day of battle,
            but I was overlooked in the division of the spoil.
                                                  --Gibbon.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. That which is gained by strength or effort.
      [1913 Webster]

            Each science and each art his spoil.  --Bentley.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. The act or practice of plundering; robbery; waste.
      [1913 Webster]

            The man that hath no music in himself,
            Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
            Is fit for treason, stratagems, and spoils. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. Corruption; cause of corruption. [Archaic]
      [1913 Webster]

            Villainous company hath been the spoil of me.
                                                  --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. The slough, or cast skin, of a serpent or other animal.
      [Obs.] --Bacon.
      [1913 Webster]

   {Spoil bank}, a bank formed by the earth taken from an
      excavation, as of a canal.

   {The spoils system}, the theory or practice of regarding
      public offices and their emoluments as so much plunder to
      be distributed among their active partisans by those who
      are chosen to responsible offices of administration.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Spoil \Spoil\ (spoil), v. i.
   1. To practice plunder or robbery.
      [1913 Webster]

            Outlaws, which, lurking in woods, used to break
            forth to rob and spoil.               --Spenser.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To lose the valuable qualities; to be corrupted; to decay;
      as, fruit will soon spoil in warm weather.
      [1913 Webster]
    

206 Moby Thesaurus words for "spoil":
      accommodate, acquisition, baby, baffle, balk, be after,
      be all thumbs, be desirous of, be spoiling for, blackmail, blast,
      blemish, blight, blot, blunder, blunder away, blunder into,
      blunder on, blunder upon, boggle, boodle, booty, botch, brave,
      break down, break up, bumble, bungle, butcher, canker, cater to,
      challenge, checkmate, circumvent, cocker, coddle, commit a gaffe,
      confound, confront, contravene, corrupt, cosset, counter,
      counteract, countermand, counterwork, crave, cross, crumble,
      crumble into dust, curdle, damage, dash, decay, decompose, deface,
      defeat, defile, deflorate, defy, demolish, depredate, desecrate,
      desolate, despoil, destroy, devastate, discomfit, disconcert,
      discountenance, disfigure, dish, disintegrate, disrupt, dote on,
      dysphemize, elude, fall into decay, fall to pieces, faux pas,
      favor, fester, fleece, flounder, flummox, foil, forage, foray,
      force, freeboot, frustrate, fumble, gangrene, give way to, go bad,
      go off, go to pieces, goods, grab, graft, gratify, gut, harm, haul,
      hot goods, humor, hurt, impair, indulge, injure, itch for, kill,
      knock the chocks, look a fright, look a mess, look bad, look for,
      look like hell, look something terrible, loot, lumber, mar, maraud,
      mess up, mildew, miscue, mold, molder, mollycoddle, mortify,
      moulder, much, muddle, muff, murder, necrose, nonplus, oblige,
      offend, offend the eye, outrage, pamper, perks, perplex,
      perquisite, pickings, pillage, play havoc with, please, plunder,
      pork barrel, prejudice, prey on, prize, public till, public trough,
      putrefy, putresce, queer, raid, rankle, ransack, ravage, raven,
      ravish, reive, rifle, rot, ruin, sabotage, sack, satisfy, scar,
      scotch, slip, snafu, sphacelate, spike, spoils, spoils of office,
      spoliate, spoliation, squeeze, stealings, stolen goods, stonewall,
      stumble, stump, suppurate, swag, sweep, taint, take, tarnish,
      thwart, till, trip, turn, uglify, upset, violate, vitiate, waste,
      wreck, yearn for, yield to