1. To practice plunder or robbery.
Outlaws, which, lurking in woods, used to break forth to rob and spoil.
Spenser. 2. To lose the valuable qualities; to be corrupted; to decay; as, fruit will soon spoil in warm weather.
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.
Gentle gales,
Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense
Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole
Those
balmy spoils.
Milton. 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.
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. 3. That which is gained by strength or effort.
each science and each art his spoil.
Bentley. 4. The act or practice of plundering; robbery; aste.
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treason,
stratagems, and spoil.
Shak. 5. Corruption; cause of corruption. [Archaic]
Villainous company hath been the spoil of me.
Shak. 6. The slough, or cast skin, of a serpent or other animal. [Obs.] Bacon.
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 and their emoluments as so much plunder to be distributed
among their active partisans by those who are chosen to responsible offices of administration.
Spoilable
(Spoil"a*ble) a. Capable of being spoiled.
Spoiler
(Spoil"er) n.
1. One who spoils; a plunderer; a pillager; a robber; a despoiler.
2. One who corrupts, mars, or renders useless.
Spoilfive
(Spoil"five`) n. A certain game at cards in which, if no player wins three of the five tricks possible
on any deal, the game is said to be spoiled.
Spoilful
(Spoil"ful) a. Wasteful; rapacious. [Poetic]
Spoilsman
(Spoils"man) n.; pl. Spoilsmen One who serves a cause or a party for a share of the spoils; in
United States politics, one who makes or recognizes a demand for public office on the ground of partisan
service; also, one who sanctions such a policy in appointments to the public service.
Spoilsmonger
(Spoils"mon`ger) n. One who promises or distributes public offices and their emoluments
as the price of services to a party or its leaders.
