Your ShelfYour Projects
Webster's Dictionary (1865)

5 entries under this word

Soil

Soil, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. SOILED; p. pr. & vb. n. SOILING.] [O. Fr. soillier, N. Fr. souiller, Pr. sulhar, solar, soillar; A-S. sylian, sēlan, to soil, stain, O. Sax. sulian, sulivan, Goth. sauljan, Icel. & Sw. söla, Dan. söle, O. H. Ger. solôn, Prov. Ger. sohlen, söhlen, suhlen, sühlen, sulen, sülen.]

  1. To make dirty on the surface; to foul; to dirty; to stain; to defile; to tarnish; to sully; as, to soil a garment with dust. “Our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained.” Milton.
  2. To cover or tinge with any thing extraneous; as, to soil the earth with blood. Tate.
  3. To cover with soil or dung; to manure.

Men . . . soil their ground, not that they love the dirt, but that they expect a crop. South. 4. Hence, to fatten. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl. Syn. — To foul; dirt; dirty; begrime; bemire; bespatter; besmear; daub; bedaub; stain; tarnish; sully; defile; pollute.

Soil, v. t.

verbtransitive

[O. Fr. saoler, saouler, N. Fr. soûler, to satiate, Lat. satullare, from O. Fr. saoul, saoul, N. Fr. soûl, Pr. sadol, It. satollo, satiated, Lat. satullus, dim. of satur, sated.] 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, such food having the effect to purge them; hence, to purge by feeding upon green food; as, to soil a horse.

Soil, n.

noun

n. [Pr. soill, suil, O. Fr. souil, A-S. & O. H. Ger. sol, N. H. Ger. suhle, sule. See supra.]

  1. Any foul matter upon another substance; dirt; foulness; spot.
  2. Stain; tarnish.

A lady’s honor . . . will not bear a soil. Dryden.

Soil, n.

noun

n. [O. Fr. soil, soile, soille, N. Fr. & Pr. sol, It. suolo, from Lat. solum, bottom, soil.]

  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.

Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil. Milton. 3. Dung; compost; manure. Improve land by dung and other sort of soils. Mortimer.

Soil, n.

noun

n. [Fr. souille, from L. Lat. souillare, to dirty, from sus, a hog.] A mashy or miry place to which a hunted boar resorts for refuge; hence, wet places, streams or water sought for by other game, as deer.

As deer, being struck, 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.” E. Jonson.