Soil

10 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Soil \Soil\ (soil), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Soiled} (soild); p. pr.
     & vb. n. {Soiling}.] [OF. saoler, saouler, to satiate, F.
     so[^u]ler, L. satullare, fr. satullus, dim. of satur sated.
     See {Satire}.]
     To feed, as cattle or horses, in the barn or an inclosure,
     with fresh grass or green food cut for them, instead of


     sending them out to pasture; hence (such food having the
     effect of purging them), to purge by feeding on green food;
     as, to soil a horse.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Soil \Soil\, n. [OE. soile, F. sol, fr. L. solum bottom, soil;
     but the word has probably been influenced in form by soil a
     miry place. Cf. {Saloon}, {Soil} a miry place, {Sole} of the
     foot.]
     1. The upper stratum of the earth; the mold, or that compound
        substance which furnishes nutriment to plants, or which is
        particularly adapted to support and nourish them.
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     2. Land; country.
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              Must I thus leave thee, Paradise? thus leave
              Thee, native soil?                    --Milton.
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     3. Dung; faeces; compost; manure; as, night soil.
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              Improve land by dung and other sort of soils.
                                                    --Mortimer.
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     {Soil pipe}, a pipe or drain for carrying off night soil.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Soil \Soil\, v. t.[OE. soilen, OF. soillier, F. souiller,
     (assumed) LL. suculare, fr. L. sucula a little pig, dim. of
     sus a swine. See {Sow}, n.]
     1. To make dirty or unclean on the surface; to foul; to
        dirty; to defile; as, to soil a garment with dust.
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              Our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained.
                                                    --Milton.
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     2. To stain or mar, as with infamy or disgrace; to tarnish;
        to sully. --Shak.
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     Syn: To foul; dirt; dirty; begrime; bemire; bespatter;
          besmear; daub; bedaub; stain; tarnish; sully; defile;
          pollute.
          [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Soil \Soil\, v. t.
     To enrich with soil or muck; to manure.
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           Men . . . soil their ground, not that they love the
           dirt, but that they expect a crop.       --South.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Soil \Soil\, v. i.
     To become soiled; as, light colors soil sooner than dark
     ones.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Soil \Soil\, n. [See {Soil} to make dirty, {Soil} a miry place.]
     That which soils or pollutes; a soiled place; spot; stain.
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           A lady's honor . . . will not bear a soil. --Dryden.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Soil \Soil\, n. [OF. soil, souil, F. souille, from OF. soillier,
     F. souiller. See {Soil} to make dirty.]
     A marshy or miry place to which a hunted boar resorts for
     refuge; hence, a wet place, stream, or tract of water, sought
     for by other game, as deer.
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           As deer, being stuck, fly through many soils,
           Yet still the shaft sticks fast.         --Marston.
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     {To take soil}, to run into the mire or water; hence, to take
        refuge or shelter.
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              O, sir, have you taken soil here? It is well a man
              may reach you after three hours' running. --B.
                                                    Jonson.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  soil
       n 1: the state of being covered with unclean things [syn: {dirt},
             {filth}, {grime}, {stain}, {grease}, {grunge}]
       2: the part of the earth's surface consisting of humus and
          disintegrated rock [syn: {dirt}]
       3: material in the top layer of the surface of the earth in
          which plants can grow (especially with reference to its
          quality or use); "the land had never been plowed"; "good
          agricultural soil" [syn: {land}, {ground}]
       4: the geographical area under the jurisdiction of a sovereign
          state; "American troops were stationed on Japanese soil"
          [syn: {territory}]
       v : make soiled, filthy, or dirty; "don't soil your clothes when
           you play outside!" [syn: {dirty}, {begrime}, {grime}, {colly},
            {bemire}] [ant: {clean}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  185 Moby Thesaurus words for "soil":
     abuse, acres, adobe, airspace, alluvion, alluvium, arable land,
     area, attaint, bedaub, befoul, begrime, belt, benasty, besmear,
     besmirch, besmoke, besmutch, besoil, bespatter, bestain, betray,
     black, blacken, blot, blotch, blow upon, blur, bole, brand,
     call names, censure, china clay, clay, clod, confines, contaminate,
     continental shelf, corridor, corrupt, country, crust, darken, daub,
     debauch, deceive, defame, defile, deflower, demoralize, denigrate,
     department, despoil, dirt, dirty, disapprove, discolor, disgrace,
     disparage, district, division, drabble, draggle, dregs, dry land,
     dust, earth, engage in personalities, environs, excrement, expose,
     expose to infamy, filth, force, foul, freehold, gibbet, glebe,
     grassland, ground, gumbo, hang in effigy, heap dirt upon,
     heartland, hinterland, humus, kaolin, land, landholdings,
     lead astray, lithosphere, loam, loess, marginal land, mark, marl,
     mess, milieu, mire, mislead, mold, motherland, muck, muckrake,
     mucky, mud, muddy, murk, nasty, neighborhood, offshore rights,
     part, parts, pillory, place, pollute, porcelain clay, precincts,
     premises, purlieus, quarter, rape, ravage, ravish, real estate,
     real property, red clay, refuse, region, regolith, reprimand,
     revile, ruin, salient, sand, scorch, sear, section, seduce, silt,
     singe, slubber, sludge, slur, smear, smirch, smoke, smooch, smouch,
     smudge, smut, smutch, sod, soilage, soilure, space, spoil, spot,
     stain, stigmatize, subaerial deposit, subsoil, sully, taint, tar,
     tarnish, terra, terra firma, terrain, territory, the country,
     three-mile limit, throw mud at, till, topsoil, turf,
     twelve-mile limit, vicinage, vicinity, vilify, violate, vitiate,
     waste matter, woodland, zone
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  SOIL. The superficies of the earth on which buildings are erected, or may be 
  erected. 
       2. The soil is the principal, and the building, when erected, is the 
  accessory. Vide Dig. 6, 1, 49.