spoils
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /spɔɪlz/
Noun
  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) seeSynonyms en
Translations Translations
  • French: distribution de postes à des membres du parti, favoritisme
Verb
  1. third-person singular form of spoil
    Milk spoils when left out too long.



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