spoil

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To impair the value or quality of.
2. v. To damage irreparably; ruin.
3. v. To impair the completeness, perfection, or unity of; flaw grievously: spoiled the party.
4. v. To do harm to the character, nature, or attitude of by oversolicitude, overindulgence, or excessive praise. See Synonyms at pamper.
5. v. Archaic To plunder; despoil.
6. v. Archaic To take by force.
7. v. To become unfit for use or consumption, as from decay. Used especially of perishables, such as food. See Synonyms at decay.
8. v. To pillage.
9. n. Goods or property seized from a victim after a conflict, especially after a military victory.
10. n. Incidental benefits reaped by a winner, especially political patronage enjoyed by a successful party or candidate.
11. n. An object of plunder; prey.
12. n. Refuse material removed from an excavation.
13. n. Archaic The act of plundering; spoliation.
14. spoil for To be eager for: spoiling for a fight.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Arms and armor stripped from a defeated enemy; the plunder taken from an enemy in war; booty; loot; hence, that which is seized or falls to one after any struggle; specifically, in recent use, the patronage and emoluments of office, considered as a reward for zeal or service rendered in a struggle of parties: frequently in the plural: as, the spoils of capture; to the victor belong the spoils; the spoils of office; party spoils.
2. n. The act of plundering, pillaging, or despoiling; the act of spoliation; pillage; robbery.
3. n. Injury; damage; waste; havoc; destruction.
4. n. An object of pillage or spoliation; a thing to be preyed upon; a prey.
5. n. Waste material, as that obtained in mining, quarrying, excavating canals, making railway cuttings, etc. Compare spoil-bank.
6. n. The slough, or cast skin, of a serpent or other animal.
7. n. In spoil-five, a drawn game.
8. n. Synonyms Plunder, Booty, etc. See pillage, n.
9. To strip with violence; rob; pillage; plunder; despoil: with of before the thing taken.
10. To seize or take by force; carry off as booty.
11. To destroy; ruin; injure; mar; impair; render useless, or less valuable, potent, or the like; seriously impair the quality, value, soundness, beauty, usefulness, pleasantness, etc., of: as, to spoil a thing in the making; to spoil one's chances of promotion; to spoil the fun.
12. To injure, vitiate, or impair in any way; especially, as applied to persons, to vitiate or impair in character or disposition; render less filial, obedient, affectionate, mannerly, modest, contented, or the like: as, to spare the rod and spoil the child; to spoil one with flattery.
13. To cut up; carve: as, to spoil a hen.
14. To engage in plunder and robbery; pillage; rob.
15. To decay; become tainted or unsavory; lose freshness: as, fruit and fish soon spoil in warm weather.

Wiktionary

1. v. transitive To reveal the ending of (a story etc.); to ruin (a surprise) by exposing it ahead of time.
2. n. Plunder taken from an enemy or victim.
3. n. uncountable Material (such as rock or earth) removed in the course of an excavation, or in mining or dredging. Tailings.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To plunder; to strip by violence; to pillage; to rob; -- with of before the name of the thing taken.
2. v. To seize by violence; to take by force; to plunder.
3. v. To cause to decay and perish; to corrupt; to vitiate; to mar.
4. v. To render useless by injury; to injure fatally; to ruin; to destroy
5. v. To practice plunder or robbery.
6. v. To lose the valuable qualities; to be corrupted; to decay.
7. n. That which is taken from another by violence; especially, the plunder taken from an enemy; pillage; booty.
8. n. 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.
9. n. That which is gained by strength or effort.
10. n. The act or practice of plundering; robbery; waste.
11. n. Archaic Corruption; cause of corruption.
12. n. obsolete The slough, or cast skin, of a serpent or other animal.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of
2. v. treat with excessive indulgence
3. v. make a mess of, destroy or ruin
4. v. alter from the original
5. v. destroy and strip of its possession
6. v. make imperfect
7. v. become unfit for consumption or use
8. n. the act of spoiling something by causing damage to it
9. n. the act of stripping and taking by force
10. v. have a strong desire or urge to do something
11. n. (usually plural) valuables taken by violence (especially in war)