spoil

1. (transitive, archaic) To strip (someone who has been killed or defeated) of arms or armour.archaictransitive

2. (transitive, archaic) To strip or deprive (someone) of possessions; to rob, despoil.Examples: "All that herde hym wer amased and sayde: ys nott this he that spoylled them whych called on this name in Jerusalem?"; "To do her dye (quoth Vna) were despight, / And shame t'auenge so weake an enimy; / But spoile her of her scarlot robe, and let her fly."; "Roger, that rich Bishop of Salisbury,[…]spoiled of his goods by King Stephen, […]through grief ran mad, spoke and did he knew not what."archaictransitive

3. (ambitransitive, archaic) To plunder, pillage (a city, country etc.).Examples: "Outlaws, which, lurking in woods, used to break forth to rob and spoil."ambitransitivearchaic

4. (transitive, obsolete) To carry off (goods) by force; to steal.Examples: "No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man."; "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 either spoiled 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 would spoil it, and get it for her own, though mama had promised her that Betsey should not have it in her own hands."obsoletetransitive

5. (transitive) To ruin; to damage in such a way as to make undesirable or unusable.Examples: "Spiritual pride […] spoils so many graces."; ""I don't want to spoil 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. […]""; "‘This is a great day for us. Let us not spoil it by saying the wrong thing, by promoting a culture of revenge, or by failing to treat the former president with respect.’"Synonyms: damage, destroy, ruintransitive

6. (transitive) To ruin the character of, by overindulgence; to coddle or pamper to excess.Synonyms: coddle, pamper, indulge, mollycoddletransitive