spoils

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɔɪlz

Noun

spoils pl (plural only)

1. That which is taken from another by violence; especially, the plunder taken from an enemy; pillage; booty.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     Gentle gales, Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole Those balmy spoils.

2. Public offices and their benefits regarded as the peculiar property of a successful party or faction, to be bestowed for its own advantage.

   To the victor belong the spoils.

Synonyms

• (that which is taken from another by violence): See Thesaurus:booty

See also

• manubial

Translations

that which is taken from another by violence

• Dutch: plundering (nl), roofbuit
• French: pillage (fr) m, sac (fr) m
• German: Beute (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: σκῦλα n pl (skûla), λάφυρα n pl (láphura)

• Latin: praeda f, exuviae f pl
• Maori: parakete, muremurenga
• Russian: добы́ча (ru) f (dobýča)

public offices and their benefits regarded as the peculiar property of a successful party or faction.

• Dutch: het uitdelen van ambten aan partijgenoten, vriendjespolitiek (nl)

• French: distribution de postes à des membres du parti, favoritisme (fr) m

Verb

spoils

1. Third-person singular simple present indicative form of spoil

   Milk spoils when left out too long.