soil

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the geographical area under the jurisdiction of a sovereign state

   American troops were stationed on Japanese soil

2. 2
   verb

   make soiled, filthy, or dirty

   don't soil your clothes when you play outside!

3. 3
   noun

   A mixture of mineral particles and organic material, used to support plant growth.

   We bought a bag of soil for the houseplants.

4. 4
   noun

   Country or territory.

   Except during the season in town, she spends her year in golfing, either at St Magnus or Pau, for, like all good Americans, she has long since abjured her native soil.

5. 5
   noun

   That which soils or pollutes; a stain.

   And ſince not only a dead Fathers fame, / But more a Ladies honour muſt be touch’d, / Which nice as Ermines will not bear a Soil ; / Let all retire ; that you alone may hear / What ev’n in whiſpers I won’d tell your ear.

6. 6
   noun

   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.

   As Deere being ſtrucke flie thorow many ſoiles, / Yet ſtill the ſhaft ſitcks faſt, ſo ;

7. 7
   noun

   Dung; compost; manure.

   night soil

8. 8
   verb

   To make dirty.

   […]Bad Fruit of Knowledge, if this be to know, / Which leaves us naked thus, of Honour void, / Of innocence, of Faith, of Puritie, / Our wonted Ornaments now ſoild and ſtaind, / And in our Faces evident the ſignes / Of foul concupiſcence ; whence eveil ſtore ; / Even ſhame, the laſt of evils ; of the firſt / Be ſure then.

Etymology

From Middle English soile, soyle, sule (“ground, earth”), partly from Anglo-Norman soyl (“bottom, ground, pavement”), from Latin solium (“seat, chair; throne”), mistaken for Latin solum (“ground, foundation, earth, sole of the foot”); and partly from Old English sol (“mud, mire, wet sand”), from Proto-Germanic *sulą (“mud, spot”), from Proto-Indo-European *sūl- (“thick liquid”). Cognate with Middle Low German söle (“dirt, mud”), Middle Dutch sol (“dirt, filth”), Middle High German sol, söl (“dirt, mud, mire”), Danish søle (“mud, muck”). Compare French seuil (“level; threshold”) and sol (“soil,…