spoil

spoil, plunder, booty, prize, loot mean something taken from another by force or craft. spoil, more commonly spoils, applies to what belongs by right or custom to the victor in war or political contest.

• • the spoils of political victory

plunder applies to what is taken not only in war but in robbery, banditry, grafting, or swindling.

• • a bootlegger's plunder

booty implies plunder to be shared among confederates.

• • thieves dividing up their booty

prize applies to spoils captured on the high seas or territorial waters of the enemy.

• • the wartime right of seizing prizes at sea

loot applies especially to what is taken from victims of a catastrophe.

• • picked through the ruins for loot

decay, decompose, rot, putrefy, spoil mean to undergo destructive dissolution. decay implies a slow change from a state of soundness or perfection.

• • a decaying mansion

decompose stresses a breaking down by chemical change and when applied to organic matter a corruption.

• • the strong odor of decomposing vegetation

rot is a close synonym of decompose and often connotes foulness.

• • fruit was left to rot in warehouses

putrefy implies the rotting of animal matter and offensiveness to sight and smell.

• • corpses putrefying on the battlefield

spoil applies chiefly to the decomposition of foods.

• • keep the ham from spoiling

indulge, pamper, humor, spoil, baby, mollycoddle mean to show undue favor to a person's desires and feelings. indulge implies excessive compliance and weakness in gratifying another's or one's own desires.

• • indulged myself with food at the slightest excuse

pamper implies inordinate gratification of desire for luxury and comfort with consequent enervating effect.

• • pampered by the amenities of modern living

humor stresses a yielding to a person's moods or whims.

• • humored him by letting him tell the story

spoil stresses the injurious effects on character by indulging or pampering.

• • foolish parents spoil their children

baby suggests excessive care, attention, or solicitude.

• • babying students by grading too easily

mollycoddle suggests an excessive degree of care and attention to another's health or welfare.

• • refused to mollycoddle her malingering son