soil

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The top layer of the earth's surface, consisting of rock and mineral particles mixed with organic matter.
2. n. A particular kind of earth or ground: sandy soil.
3. n. Country; land: native soil.
4. n. The agricultural life: a man of the soil.
5. n. A place or condition favorable to growth; a breeding ground.
6. v. To make dirty, particularly on the surface.
7. v. To disgrace; tarnish: a reputation soiled by scandal.
8. v. To corrupt; defile.
9. v. To dirty with excrement.
10. v. To become dirty, stained, or tarnished.
11. n. The state of being soiled.
12. n. A stain.
13. n. Filth, sewage, or refuse.
14. n. Manure, especially human excrement, used as fertilizer.
15. v. To feed (livestock) with soilage.
16. v. To purge (livestock) by feeding with green food.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The ground; the earth.
2. n. Land; country; native land.
3. n. A mixture of fine earthy material with more or less organic matter resulting from the growth and decomposition of vegetation on the surface of the ground, or from the decay of animal matter (manure) artificially supplied. The existence of soil over any area implies a previous decomposition of the rocks, and climatic and other physical conditions favorable to the growth of vegetation. As these conditions vary, so varies the thickness of the soil. That which lies next beneath the soil and partakes of its qualities, but in a less degree, is called the subsoil.
4. n. In soldering, a mixture of size and lampblack applied around the parts to be joined to prevent the adhesion of melted solder.
5. n. A marshy or wet place to which a hunted boar resorts for reruge; hence, a wet place, stream, or water sought for by other game, as deer.
6. To make dirty on the surface; dirty; defile; tarnish; sully; smirch; contaminate.
7. To dung; manure.
8. To take on dirt; become soiled; take a soil or stain; tarnish: as, silver soils sooner than gold.
9. n. Any foul matter upon another substance; foulness.
10. n. Stain; tarnish; spot; defilement or taint.
11. n. Manure; compost. Compare night-soil.
12. To stall-feed with green food; feed for the purpose of fattening.
13. To solve; resolve.
14. To absolve; assoil.
15. A dialectal variant of sile.
16. n. Same as syle.
17. n. A dialectal variant of sill.
18. n. A young coal fish.
19. In plumbing, to paint (the ends of pipes about to be joined) by wiping (them) with soil. See soil, n., 4.

Wiktionary

1. n. A mixture of sand and organic material, used to support plant growth.
2. n. The unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the immediate surface of the earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of land plants.
3. n. The unconsolidated mineral or organic matter on the surface of the earth that has been subjected to and shows effects of genetic and environmental factors of: climate (including water and temperature effects), and macro- and microorganisms, conditioned by relief, acting on parent material over a period of time. A product-soil differs from the material from which it is derived in many physical, chemical, biological, and morphological properties and characteristics.
4. n. Country or territory.
5. n. Faeces or urine etc. when found on clothes.
6. n. In medical terms, a bag containing soiled items.
7. n. A wet or marshy place in which a boar or other such game seeks refuge when hunted.
8. v. To make dirty.
9. v. To dirty one's clothing by accidentally defecating while clothed.
10. v. reflexively: to soil oneself
11. v. To make invalid, to ruin.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. 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.
2. n. 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.
3. n. Land; country.
4. n. Dung; fæces; compost; manure.
5. v. To enrich with soil or muck; to manure.
6. n. 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.
7. v. To make dirty or unclean on the surface; to foul; to dirty; to defile.
8. v. To stain or mar, as with infamy or disgrace; to tarnish; to sully.
9. v. To become soiled.
10. n. That which soils or pollutes; a soiled place; spot; stain.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. material in the top layer of the surface of the earth in which plants can grow (especially with reference to its quality or use)
2. n. the geographical area under the jurisdiction of a sovereign state
3. v. make soiled, filthy, or dirty
4. n. the part of the earth's surface consisting of humus and disintegrated rock
5. n. the state of being covered with unclean things