| Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition. 1995. |
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spoil |
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| NOUN: | 1. The political appointments or jobs that are at the disposal of those in power. Used in plural: patronage. Slang : pork. See POLITICS. 2. Goods or property seized unlawfully, especially by a victor in wartime. Used in plural: booty, loot, pillage, plunder. Slang : boodle. Nautical : prize2. See CRIMES, GIVE. | | VERB: | 1. To treat with indulgence and often overtender care: baby, cater, coddle, cosset, indulge, mollycoddle, overindulge, pamper. See TREAT WELL. 2. To harm irreparably through inept handling; make a mess: ball up, blunder, boggle, botch, bungle, foul up, fumble, gum up, mess up, mishandle, mismanage, muddle, muff. Informal : bollix up, muck up. Slang : blow1, goof up, louse up, screw up, snafu. Idioms: make a muck of. See CORRECT, HELP. 3. To become or cause to become rotten or unsound: break down, decay, decompose, deteriorate, disintegrate, molder, putrefy, rot, taint, turn. Idioms: go bad, go to pot, go to seed. See BETTER, THRIVE. 4. To cause the complete ruin or wreckage of: bankrupt, break down, cross up, demolish, destroy, finish, ruin, shatter, sink, smash, torpedo, undo, wash up, wrack2, wreck. Slang : total. Idioms: put the kibosh on. See HELP. 5. Archaic. To rob of goods by force, especially in time of war: depredate, despoil, havoc, loot, pillage, plunder, ransack, rape, ravage, sack2, spoliate, strip1. Archaic : harrow. See CRIMES, GIVE.
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| Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition. Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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