night soil

noun

: human feces used especially for fertilizing the soil

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web For millennia, people collected these precious substances—often in the wee hours, giving rise to the term night soil—and used them to grow food. —

Julia Rosen, The Atlantic, 8 Feb. 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'night soil.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.