To do her dye (quoth Vna) were despight, / And shame t'auenge so weake an enimy; / Butspoile her of her scarlot robe, and let her fly.
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym;Robert Burton],The Anatomy of Melancholy:[…], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire:[…] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps,→OCLC, partition I, section 2, member 4, subsection vii:
Roger, that rich Bishop of Salisbury,[…]spoiled of his goods by King Stephen,[…]through grief ran mad, spoke and did he knew not what.
1596 (date written; published1633),Edmund Spenser,A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande[…], Dublin:[…] Societie of Stationers,[…],→OCLC; republished asA View of the State of Ireland[…] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin:[…] Society of Stationers,[…] Hibernia Press,[…][b]y John Morrison,1809,→OCLC:
Outlaws, which, lurking in woods, used to break forth to rob andspoil.
No man can enter into a strong man’s house, andspoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man.
1677,Hannah Woolley,The Compleat Servant-Maid[1], London: T. Passinger, page35:
They must likewise endeavour to be careful in looking after the rest of the Servants, that every one perform their duty in their several places, that they keep good hours in their up-rising and lying down, and that no Goods be eitherspoiled or embezelled.
[…] it was her own knife; little sister Mary had left it to her upon her deathbed, and she ought to have had it to keep herself long ago. But mama kept it from her, and was always letting Betsey get hold of it; and the end of it would be that Betsey wouldspoil it, and get it for her own, though mama hadpromised her that Betsey should not have it in her own hands.
1907, Ronald M. Burrows,The Discoveries In Crete, page18:
There is hardly a trace of metal left in the Palace at Knossos. In one corner only, on the north-west, a friendly floor level seems to have sunk just before the plunderers entered it, and hidden from their view five splendid bronze vessels. They are all that remain to us[…] to tell us what the gold and silver work was like that wasspoiled from Knossos.
(transitive) Toruin; todamage (something) in some way making it unfit for use.[from 16th c.]
1651,Jer[emy] Taylor,The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living.[…], 2nd edition, London:[…] Francis Ashe[…],→OCLC:
"I don't want tospoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim, "but I was at Winchester and New College." ¶ "That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. […]"
2011 August 5, “What the Arab papers say”, inThe Economist:
‘This is a great day for us. Let us notspoil it by saying the wrong thing, by promoting a culture of revenge, or by failing to treat the former president with respect.’
Make sure you put the milk back in the fridge, otherwise it willspoil.
(transitive) To render (a ballot paper)invalid by deliberately defacing it.[from 19th c.]
2003, David Nicoll,The Guardian, letter:
Dr Jonathan Grant (Letters, April 22) feels the best way to show his disaffection with political parties over Iraq is tospoil his ballot paper.
(transitive) To reveal the ending or major events of (a story etc.); to ruin (asurprise) by exposing it ahead of time as aspoiler.
2018 November 14, Jesse Hassenger, “Disney Goes Viral with an Ambitious, OverstuffedWreck-It Ralph Sequel”, inThe A.V. Club[2], archived fromthe original on21 November 2019:
These include a brief but showstopping (and trailer-revealed) scene where Vanellope crashes a Disney Princess reunion, packed with gags and references that should send both young and old fans into paroxysms of glee. The princess confab also leads into a scene featuring Vanellope and the cast ofSlaughter Race that probably shouldn’t bespoiled.
1961 December, “Planning the London Midland main-line electrification”, inTrains Illustrated, page721:
In view of the decline in freight traffic, it was strange to hear from Mr. Lambert that there is "a continuing problem of supplying, particularly for the civil engineer, the number of wagons required for carrying construction materials andspoil for various works."
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