Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To deprive of something valuable, especially by force; rob.
- transitive verb To ruin, especially by destroying or removing what is valuable.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Spoil; plunder; spoliation.
- To spoliate; take spoil from; strip of possessions; pillage: as, the army despoiled the enemy's country.
- To deprive by spoliation; strip by force; plunder; bereave: with of: as, to
despoil one of his goods or of honors. - To strip; divest; undress: used absolutely or with of.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete Spoil.
- transitive verb obsolete To strip, as of clothing; to divest or unclothe.
- transitive verb To deprive for spoil; to plunder; to rob; to pillage; to strip; to divest; -- usually followed by
of .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
deprive forspoil ; to take spoil from; toplunder ; torob ; topillage . - verb transitive To violently
strip (someone), with indirect objectof theirpossessions etc.; torob . - verb obsolete To strip (someone) of their
clothes ; toundress . - noun obsolete
Plunder ;spoliation .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb steal goods; take as spoils
- verb destroy and strip of its possession
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Allow no man, under any pretense, to despoil you of your virtue.
A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010
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In addressing these and countless projects like them up and down the state, Californians have relied on CEQA for over 40 years to protect their communities and our natural resources from environmentally uninformed government decisions -- decisions that needlessly pollute our air, contaminate our water, endanger our children's health, despoil our wild lands, and undermine the quality of our lives.
Joel Reynolds: Handle CEQA With Care Joel Reynolds 2011
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They say Canadian oil-sands crude, which made up about half of the 1.9 million barrels of oil a day Canada exported to the U.S. in 2009, is more likely to spill from pipelines and despoil land in the U.S.
Oil-Sands Pipeline Fuels Concern Edward Welsch 2011
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How can we have free elections, runs a classic line, as long as they despoil our sacred Islamic lands?
The Arab Spring and The Palestine Distraction Josef Joffe 2011
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Once upon a time, repelled (rightly) by Canada's treatment of First Nations people, and in particular the Ontario government's collaboration with Big Mining to despoil Indian lands and jail their leaders, she preached aboriginal revolution:
Archive 2009-11-01 2009
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In addressing these and countless projects like them up and down the state, Californians have relied on CEQA for over 40 years to protect their communities and our natural resources from environmentally uninformed government decisions -- decisions that needlessly pollute our air, contaminate our water, endanger our children's health, despoil our wild lands, and undermine the quality of our lives.
Joel Reynolds: Handle CEQA With Care Joel Reynolds 2011
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For good measure and in keeping with his employer's philosophy, Watt permitted commercial interests to exploit and despoil previously off-limits publicly owned wilderness.
Edward Flattau: Reagan's Birthday Caveat Edward Flattau 2011
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We can now despoil each other of countless types of assets, from a world away.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Outrageous Treaty Nonsense, or The Copyright Tail Wagging the Internet Dog 2010
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For good measure and in keeping with his employer's philosophy, Watt permitted commercial interests to exploit and despoil previously off-limits publicly owned wilderness.
Edward Flattau: Reagan's Birthday Caveat Edward Flattau 2011
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Together they join to resist the Crushers of corporate-military power that seek to despoil their world.
Rabbi Arthur Waskow: Big Coal, 'Avatar' And Tu B'Shvat Rabbi Arthur Waskow 2011
yarb commented on the word despoil
Grans are bewildered by post-Coronation disintegration;
offspring of offspring of their offspring infest and despoil.
- Peter Reading, Ukulele Music, 1985
May 30, 2009
bilby commented on the word despoil
Lie here with me dreaming,
Cheek to cheek,
Lithe limbs twined and gleaming,
Brown and sleek;
Like two serpents coiling
In their lair.
Where's the good of wreathing
Sprays for Time's despoiling?
Let me feel your breathing
In my hair.
- Richard Hovey, 'Launa Dee'.
September 16, 2009