DEFINITION
SOIL:
• (v. t.) To feed, as cattle or horses, in the barn or an inclosure,
with fresh grass or green food cut for them, instead of sending them
out to pasture; hence (such food having the effect of purging them), to
purge by feeding on green food; as, to soil a horse.
• (n.) The upper stratum of the earth; the mold, or that compound
substance which furnishes nutriment to plants, or which is particularly
adapted to support and nourish them.
• (n.) Land; country.
• (n.) Dung; faeces; compost; manure; as, night soil.
• (v. t.) To enrich with soil or muck; to manure.
• (n.) A marshy or miry place to which a hunted boar resorts for
refuge; hence, a wet place, stream, or tract of water, sought for by
other game, as deer.
• (n.) To make dirty or unclean on the surface; to foul; to dirty;
to defile; as, to soil a garment with dust.
• (n.) To stain or mar, as with infamy or disgrace; to tarnish; to
sully.
• (v. i.) To become soiled; as, light colors soil sooner than dark
ones.
• (n.) That which soils or pollutes; a soiled place; spot; stain.