Spoil Meaning
/spɔɪl/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo strip (someone who has been killed or defeated) of arms or armour.
verbTo strip or deprive (someone) of possessions; to rob, despoil.
Sentence Examples
Spare the rod and spoil the child.
Don't spoil the children.
As long as it doesn't spoil the weekend!
CEFR Practice Quiz
If you leave the milk out of the fridge all day, it will ____ and become sour.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Don't leave the milk out in the hot sun or it will ____ and become completely undrinkable very quickly.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Latin spolium Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin spoliāre Old French espoillierbor. Middle English spoilen English spoil From Middle English spoilen, spuylen, borrowed from Old French espoillier, espollier, espuler, from Latin spoliō, spoliāre (“pillage, ruin, spoil”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"All that herde hym wer amased and sayde: ys nott this he that spoylled them whych called on this name in Jerusalem?"
— 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts ix:[21]:
"To do her dye (quoth Vna) were despight, / And shame t'auenge so weake an enimy; / But spoile her of her scarlot robe, and let her fly."
— 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
"Roger, that rich Bishop of Salisbury,[…]spoiled of his goods by King Stephen, […]through grief ran mad, spoke and did he knew not what."
— 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition I, section 2, member 4, subsection vii:
"Outlaws, which, lurking in woods, used to break forth to rob and spoil."
— 1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC:
"No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 3:27:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
If you leave the milk out of the fridge all day, it will ____ and become sour.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Don't leave the milk out in the hot sun or it will ____ and become completely undrinkable very quickly.