spoilern.
/ˈspɔɪlə/, U.S. /ˈspɔɪlər/ 1. figurative.1821 C. Lamb in London Mag. June 613/1 I hate people who meet Time half-way. I am for no compromise with that inevitable spoiler.1824 W. M. Praed Athens 199 If the flush of youth..Could bid the spoiler turn his scythe away, Or snatch one flower from darkness and decay.
a. One who pillages, plunders, or robs; a ravager, spoliator, despoiler.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > thief > robber > spoiler or plunderer > [noun]
riflera1350
ravenerc1384
pillerc1385
preyerc1390
raptora1398
peelera1425
despoiler1467
spulyierc1475
pillardc1485
ruggerc1485
pollera1513
booty-fellow1530
spoiler1535
caterpillar1541
kitea1556
ransacker?1576
predator1581
lurdan1589
worm1591
scraper1598
pillager?1611
ravager1611
bird of preya1616
depredator1626
plunderer1639
expilator1658
shark1713
depredationist1828
spoliator1831
rapiner1843
ravisher1851
1535 Bible (Coverdale) 2 Kings xvii. 20 Therfore dyd ye Lorde cast awaye all ye sede of Israel,..and delyuered them in to the handes of the spoylers.
1598 R. Barret Theorike & Pract. Mod. Warres i. 11 Many disorders doe happen by the disorder of couetous spoilers.
1611 Bible (King James) Isa. xxi. 2 The treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. View more context for this quotation
1680 T. Otway Orphan iv. 49 A Cruel Spoiler came, Cropt this fair Rose, and rifled all its Sweetness.
1768 H. Brooke Fool of Quality III. xvi. 128 One tenth for the use of the society.., and the other nine for the benefit of the spoilers.
1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 240 Can any philosophic spoiler undertake to demonstrate..the comparative evil, of having a..portion of landed property. View more context for this quotation
1846 H. H. Wilson Hist. Brit. India 1805–35 II. ii. 81 Driving them into the interior,..leaving their fields and homes to the spoiler.
1877 A. B. Edwards Thousand Miles up Nile vii. 181 One can easily imagine how these spoilers sacked and ravaged all before them.
b. Said of animals, insects, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > by habits or actions > [noun] > that destroys things
spoiler1774
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth IV. 225 One of them stands centinel upon a tree, while the rest are plundering..in the mean time, the rest of the spoilers pursue their work with great silence and assiduity.
1779 W. Cowper Pineapple & Bee 5 On eager wing the spoiler came, And search'd for crannies in the frame.
2.
a. One who or that which spoils, destroys, injures, mars, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > damage > [noun] > one who or that which damages
spulyierc1475
marrerc1500
maimer1530
hinderer1532
nipper1535
mangler1561
spoiler1577
truncator1579
batterer1611
spoil?1611
mauler1618
wrecker1882
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry i. f. 35 Chyche..is a great spoyler of land.
1648 H. Hexham Groot Woorden-boeck Brodder, a Marrer, or a Spoiler of worke.
1694 P. A. Motteux Wks. F. Rabelais (1737) v. 215 Wheadling Gablers,..Spoilers of Paper.
1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farming 297 Camock..is a greater Spoiler of the Corn.
1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield I. x. 89 The sun was dreaded as an enemy to the skin without doors, and the fire as a spoiler of the complexion within.
1900 Westm. Gaz. 28 Nov. 2/1 The sun is a spoiler of intrinsic colour.
b. Boxing. An inferior fighter who sets out to disrupt his opponent's style.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > boxing > [noun] > boxer > types of
bruiser1744
ruffian1791
in-fighter1812
punisher1812
nobber1821
receiver general1821
slogger1829
slogster1881
ham1888
slaughterer1896
pushover1908
bum1917
mauler1920
palooka1920
round heel1926
set-up1926
powder puff1931
spoiler1948
kick-boxer1978
stiff1989
1948 Sun (Baltimore) 29 June 15/2 Walcot is only a timid defensive heavyweight to whom the words ‘offense’ and ‘attack’ are abhorrent. In the language of the ring he is known as a ‘spoiler’, the type of fighter who can make an opponent look bad but who can never look good himself.
1959 Times 14 Oct. 16/5 Carroll, a ‘spoiler’ when at close quarters, has a good left jab.
c. U.S. One who mars the chance of victory for an opponent, while not being a potential winner. Also, applied to a thing. Esp. in Sport and Politics.
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the world > action or operation > difficulty > hindrance > [noun] > one who or that which hinders > a hindrance, impediment, or obstacle > person > jealous
spoiler1950
1950 Sun (Baltimore) 9 June 20/4 In meeting San Francisco here..the Colts will get a crack at their biggest ‘spoiler’ of the past two seasons.
1965 N.Y. Times 1 Nov. 40 It seems clear that William Buckley will poll enough votes to be a ‘spoiler’, though it is not yet certain for whom.
1967 Connable & Silberfarb Tigers of Tammany iv. 117 Van Buren was the ‘spoiler’ in a three-way race.
1968 N.Y. Times 25 Jan. 19 Mr. Javits..described the six-year-old Conservative party as ‘a faction’ that had been set up as ‘a spoiler’ party.
1971 N.Y. Times 22 Aug. iv. 3/4 What he [sc. George Wallace] is doing these days is laying the premise for another ‘spoiler’ campaign in 1972.
1976 J. V. O'Brien William O'Brien viii. 194 It was felt that the Protestant vote had gone not to O'Brien but to the spoiler candidate and ex-Lord Mayor.
1979 N.Y. Post 20 Aug. 44 It looks like we're out of it now, so we'll just have to be spoilers from here on.
1979 N.Y. Post 20 Aug. 46 I suppose you can't have a ‘spoiler’ in soccer.
1980 Washington Post 11 Sept. 1/1 Not that Anderson is yet seen as a serious challenger for the presidency... But he is now perceived as a genuine factor in the presidential election, a certified political spoiler.
3.
a. Aeronautics. A flap or the like that can be made to project from the upper surface of an aircraft wing to break up a smooth air-flow and so increase drag.
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society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > parts of aircraft > [noun] > movable control surface > device to reduce lift
spoiler1928
1928 de Port & Borden Rep. U.S. Air Corps Materiel Div. Airplane Branch No. 2878. 2 The ‘spoiler’ or ‘lift destroyer’ described in this report causes a decrease in lift by a ‘burbling’ action.
1932 Rep. U.S. Nat. Advisory Comm. for Aeronautics No. 439. 3/1 When ailerons and spoilers are used together the full effect of both is not obtained if the spoilers are located directly in front of the ailerons.
1947 A. C. Douglas Gliding & Adv. Soaring iii. 84 When the spoilers are raised a certain amount of the lift of the wing is destroyed and the machine must glide at a steeper angle in order to keep the speed constant.
1978 R. Jansson News Caper xiii. 115 Thackaray trimmed once more, and briefly pulled on the spoilers to reduce our air speed.
b. A structure on a motor vehicle intended to reduce lift and so increase the pressure on the wheels at high speed; also, one located so as to reduce the drag caused by components on the underside of a car.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > parts and equipment of motor vehicles > [noun] > body or bodywork > structures to reduce drag or lift
fairing1936
spoiler1963
aerofoil1966
air dam1970
skirt1974
1963 Times 8 Mar. 3/7 A special feature..is the tail, which is sharply cut-back in Ferrari style, the roof sweeping down to end in a ‘spoiler’ or raised lip. This treatment eliminates turbulence and wind drag by killing low-pressure over the tail, and keeping weights on the rear wheels at high speed.
1965 Observer 10 Oct. 5/1 It has retractable spoilers which can be pushed up to increase high-speed stability.
1974 L. Deighton Spy Story i. 10 His car..was..all dressed up in black vinyl, Lamborghini-style rear-window slats, and even a spoiler.
1979 Time 2 Apr. 6 (advt.) The front spoiler is there to give you increased tyre adhesion at high speeds.
Draft additions 1997
Journalism. A news story or other newspaper item published to spoil the impact of and divert attention from a related item published elsewhere. Also transferred in other news media: an event which is intended to generate news coverage with a similarly distracting effect.
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society > communication > information > news or tidings > [noun] > piece of > with distracting effect
spoiler1985
the mind > attention and judgement > inattention > mental wandering > lack of concentration, distraction > [noun] > cause of > event
spoiler1985
society > communication > journalism > journal > matter of or for journals > [noun] > story > types of
sob story1913
wire story1943
cover story1945
MEGO1977
spoiler1985
1985 Guardian 20 May 7/8 What we have there is a classic Fleet Street spoiling operation aimed at sinking the Bogdanovitch story... The spoiler is designed to neutralise the enemy's razzmatazz by running the same story, preferably bigger, better and sooner.
1988 Sunday Times 17 Apr. c6/4 Not to be outdone, the Mail has run a daily ‘spoiler’, unprecedented in its length, matching each four-page pull-out in Today with its own centre-page spreads: ‘Michael Jackson, Uncensored’.
1989 Daily Tel. 30 Dec. (Weekend Suppl.) p. v/1 The speech made the front pages of the Daily Mail, The Times and The Daily Telegraph... The Independent..treated it as a spoiler for Paddy Ashdown's ‘green’ speech to his party conference a couple of days later.
Draft additions 1993
Sound Recording. An electronic device incorporated into a piece of recording equipment in order to prevent unauthorized recording, esp. of a compact disc by a digital audio tape deck; also (in full spoiler signal), an electronic signal, inaudible during normal listening, which ruins the recording of any record or soundtrack into which it is incorporated.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > sound recording and reproduction > [noun] > spoiler signal
spoiler1979
society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > sound recording and reproduction > sound recording or reproducing equipment > [noun] > device preventing unauthorized recording
spoiler1979
1979 New Scientist 17 May 522/2 The BPI's chimera is a spoiler signal, buried in the original recording... Spoilers can be made to perform under laboratory conditions, but in practice they are a dead duck. They can, for instance, easily be defeated by a simple anti-spoiler circuit.
1981 New Scientist 5 Nov. 359/2 As spoilers and levies are contradictory (one prevents taping while the other taxes it), the government is unlikely to change its mind on a levy while such confusion exists.
1986 Times 3 Sept. 23/3 The..music industry..wants legislation requiring all dat machines to carry an anti-copying device called a spoiler so that dat cannot pirate copyright material.
1988 Which? July 345/3 CBS recently tried to introduce a ‘spoiler’ system called Copycode. This, it was claimed, would prevent any CD/DAT recording.
Draft additions June 2007
colloquial (originally U.S.). A description of a significant plot point or other aspect of a movie, book, etc., which if previously known may spoil a person's first experience of the work. Esp. in written contexts, warning the reader of an impending revelation of this type.
ΚΠ
1971 D. C. Kenney in National Lampoon Apr. 33/1 On the following pages, the National Lampoon presents, as a public service, a selection of ‘spoilers’ guaranteed to reduce the risk of unsettling and possibly dangerous suspense... Psycho: The movie's multiple murders are committed by Anthony Perkins disguised as his long-dead mother [etc.].
1981 SF-Lovers Digest V3 #120 in fa.sf-lovers (Usenet newsgroup) 13 May Spoiler..Spoiler..Spoiler... The island of the High-tech civilization is Krakatoa.
1993 E. S. Raymond New Hacker's Dict. (ed. 2) 392 Spoiler, a remark which reveals important plot elements from books or movies.
2001 Premiere Feb. 45/1 It [sc. this article] contains several plot ‘spoilers’ and should not be read until after you have seen the movie.
Draft additions June 2018
spoiler alert n. (in a review or esp. online discussion of a film, television series, etc.) an intervention used to warn a reader that an important detail of the story is about to be divulged or alluded to; a forewarning of a plot spoiler (see sense Additions); frequently humorous or ironic, esp. in wider use (see quot. 2017).
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1982 ST-2 Question in net.movies (Usenet newsgroup) 8 June [Spoiler alert] regarding Spock's parting gesture to McCoy, it wouldn't surprize me if that's how they bring him back.
1994 Washington Post (Nexis) 6 Dec. a19 On movie buffs' discussion lists..there is wide use of the term ‘spoiler alert’, which is a warning inserted before any comment that would give away a film's ending.
1998 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 24 June c1 117 TV episodes have aired so far... So here's a spoiler alert. If you don't want to know.., read no further.
2007 Sunday Herald (Glasgow) 23 Dec. (Mag.) 73/4 Spoiler alert: Little Nell totally dies at the end.
2017 Southern Jewish Life June 46/2 The Torah is also referred to as The Five Books of Moses...There are five books and (spoiler alert:) a lot of it is about Moses.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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