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Definition of spoil noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

spoil

noun
 
/spɔɪl/
 
/spɔɪl/
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  1. the spoils
     [plural] (formal or literary) goods taken from a place by thieves or by an army that has won a battle or war
    • the spoils of war
    • The robbers divided up the spoils.
  2. spoils
     [plural] the profits or advantages that somebody gets from being successful
    • the spoils of high office
    • The two teams shared the spoils with a 1–1 result.
    Topics Successc2
  3. [uncountable] (specialist) waste material that is brought up when a hole is dug, etc.
    4. Word OriginMiddle English (in the sense ‘to plunder’): shortening of Old French espoille (noun), espoillier (verb), from Latin spoliare, from spolium ‘plunder, skin stripped from an animal’, or a shortening of despoil.
See spoil in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
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Nearby words

trait
noun
 
 
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