Soil , n. [See Soil to make dirty, Soil a miry place.]
That which soils or pollutes; a soiled place; spot; stain.
A lady's honor . . . will not bear
a soil.
Dryden.
Soil , v. i. To become soiled; as, light colors soil sooner than dark ones.
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.
Our
wonted ornaments now
soiled and stained.
Milton. 2. To stain or mar,
as with infamy or disgrace; to tarnish; to sully. Shak.
Syn. -- To foul; dirt; dirty; begrime; bemire; bespatter; besmear; daub; bedaub; stain; tarnish; sully; defile; pollute.
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.
As deer, being stuck, fly through many soils,
Yet still the shaft sticks fast.
Marston. To take soil, to run into the
mire or water; hence, to take refuge or shelter.
O, sir, have you taken soil here? It is well a man may reach you after three hours' running.
B. Jonson.
Soil , v. t. To enrich with soil or muck;
to manure.
Men . . . soil their ground, not that they love the dirt, but that they expect a crop.
South.
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.
2. Land; country.
Must I thus leave thee, Paradise? thus leave
Thee, native soil?
Milton. 3. Dung;
fæces; compost; manure; as, night soil.
Improve land by dung and other sort of
soils.
Mortimer. Soil pipe, a pipe or drain for carrying off night soil.
Soil (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Soiled (?);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Soiling.]
[OF. saoler, saouler,
to satiate, F. soûler, 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.
Hear it pronounced