spoils - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
      Gentle gales, / Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense / Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole / Those balmy spoils.
    • 1996 October, Allen Fung, “Testing the Self-Strengthening: The Chinese Army in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895”, in Modern Asian Studies‎[1], volume 30, number 4, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, page 1017; republished as Kenneth Swope, editor, Warfare in China Since 1600‎[2], 2017, →ISBN, →OCLC, page [3]:
      When the Japanese armies captured Pingrang on 15th September, they discovered that 35 good field guns were left behind, together with hundreds of magazine rifles and hundreds more of breechloaders. The amount of ammunition captured was also enormous.⁴⁷ If the spoils were already so substantial, the quantity of effective weapons the Chinese possessed in Pingrang was certainly impressive.
    • 2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:
      Mr Big threw a bundle each to his two trusty henchmen, Fingers and Thumbs. “There’s your share,” said the boss. The two men looked happy enough with their spoils.
  2. Waste material left over in the course of excavation, construction, mining, or dredging operations.
    Hyponyms: culm, mullock, overburden, gangue, tailings
    dredging spoils
  3. 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.

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

spoils

  1. third-person singular simple present indicative of spoil
    Milk spoils when left out too long.

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