soilsoil2 verb [transitive] 
Keep your money – I wouldn’t soil my hands with it.—soiled adjective: soiled diapers
WORD ORIGINsoil2
Origin:
1200-1300 Old French soiller, from soil ‘pigsty’, probably from Latin suile, from sus ‘pig’VERB TABLE
soil
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | soil |
| he, she, it | soils | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | soiled |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have soiled |
| he, she, it | has soiled | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had soiled |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will soil |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have soiled |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am soiling |
| he, she, it | is soiling | |
| you, we, they | are soiling | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was soiling |
| you, we, they | were soiling | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been soiling |
| he, she, it | has been soiling | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been soiling |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be soiling |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been soiling |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- soiled diapers
- His shirtfront was soiled with blood and his hair was wild.
- Many of the pages had been soiled by the old man's dirty fingers.
- The baby had soiled her diaper again.
- Fremont Elementary was old and soiled, waiting for terminal erosion like the bits of tire debris that trucks leave on freeways.
- He sometimes gets his shoes soiled in trying to stay out of the muck.
- Is the bark naturally as black as it is now, or has the dirt from the air soiled it?
- The man then soiled his bed. and Butler cleaned and changed him again.
- This would be soiled over to give a better finish than presently shown.
- What good is there in preventing it, in soiling your daughter's reputation when it could remain clear?
Longman Language Activatorto make something dirty
use this especially in negative statements: · Try not to get the floor dirty.· I don't want to get my new shoes dirty.
to make something dirty , especially clothes: · You can borrow my gloves, but please try not to dirty them.· As he stood on the pavement, muddy water splashed up and dirtied his trousers.
formal to make clothes, sheets, etc dirty, especially with sweat, waste from your body, or other liquids: · The baby had soiled her diaper again.· His shirtfront was soiled with blood and his hair was wild.· Many of the pages had been soiled by the old man's dirty fingers.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES Heavy rain meant the pitch was waterlogged.COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSNOUN
(=soil from which water flows away quickly or slowly) This plant needs rich, well-drained soil.
This plant needs rich, well-drained soil.· Soil erosion is worse in areas where trees have been cut down.
· Where shall I put the dirty nappy?
· They analysed soil samples collected from streams.
(=for example, sandy soil or clay soil)· The plant thrives in a wide range of soil types.
Heavy rain meant the pitch was waterlogged.· Baldwin soiled his hands a little, but not excessively.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRYPHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
1formal to make something dirty, especially with waste from your body2not soil your hands to not do something because you consider it too unpleasant or dishonest: - Keep your drug money - I wouldn't want to soil my hands with it.
- After an initial few hundred feet across virgin land the railway will join the old trackbed of the long-disused Newbury Railway.
- Another road runs south, through the oilfields, and is constantly being extended into virgin forest.
- Cloud shadows scudded across immeasurable stands of virgin forests.
- In low range, it walks with authority across a field covered by a couple of feet of packed virgin snow.
- In response to the beard-shaving incident the Dwarfs chopped down entire virgin forests to spite the Elves.
- Some scientists believe that it can take up to a thousand years for virgin forest to be truly established.
- The trees here were all larger and growing much more vigorously than in the virgin forest above.
- Within an hour, Bucharest is buried under a blanket of virgin snow.
Keep your money – I wouldn’t soil my hands with it.—soiled adjective: soiled diapers