soil

English Online Dictionary. What means soil‎? What does soil mean?

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɔɪl̩/, [sɔɪ̯ɫ̩]
• Rhymes: -ɔɪl̩

Etymology 1

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, earth; ground”). See also sole, soal, solum.

Alternative forms

• soyl (obsolete)

Noun

soil (countable and uncountable, plural soils)

1. (uncountable) A mixture of mineral particles and organic material, used to support plant growth.

2. (uncountable) The unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the immediate surface of the earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of land plants.
3. (uncountable) The unconsolidated mineral or organic matter on the surface of the earth that has been subjected to and shows effects of genetic and environmental factors of: climate (including water and temperature effects), and macro- and microorganisms, conditioned by relief, acting on parent material over a period of time. A product-soil differs from the material from which it is derived in many physical, chemical, biological, and morphological properties and characteristics.
4. Country or territory.
5. That which soils or pollutes; a stain.
6. 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.
7. Dung; compost; manure.

Synonyms

• (senses 1 to 3): dirt (US), earth

Meronyms

• organic matter

Derived terms

Related terms

• solum

Translations

See also

• alluvium

Etymology 2

From Middle English soilen, soulen, suylen (“to sully, make dirty”), partly from Old French soillier, souillier (“to soil, make dirty, wallow in mire”), from Old Frankish *saulijan, *sulwijan (“to make dirty, soil”); partly from Old English solian, sylian (“to soil, make dirty”), from Proto-Germanic *sulwōną, *sulwijaną, *saulijaną (“to soil, make dirty”), from Proto-Indo-European *sūl- (“thick liquid”). Cognate with Old Frisian sulia (“to soil, mire”), Middle Dutch soluwen, seulewen (“to soil, besmirch”), Old High German solōn, bisulen (“to make dirty”), German suhlen (“to soil, make dirty”), Danish søle (“to make dirty, defile”), Swedish söla (“to soil, make dirty”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐍃𐌰𐌿𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (bisauljan, “to bemire”). Compare sully.

Verb

soil (third-person singular simple present soils, present participle soiling, simple past and past participle soiled)

1. (transitive) To make dirty.
2. (intransitive) To become dirty or soiled.

3. (transitive, figurative) To stain or mar, as with infamy or disgrace; to tarnish; to sully.
4. (reflexive) To dirty one's clothing by accidentally defecating while clothed.

5. To make invalid, to ruin.
6. To enrich with soil or muck; to manure.

Synonyms

• (to make dirty): smirch, besmirch, dirty

Derived terms

• soil one's pants
• soil oneself
• soilage (“act of soiling; condition of being soiled”)

Translations

Noun

soil (plural soils)

1. (uncountable, euphemistic) Faeces or urine etc. when found on clothes.
2. (countable, medicine) A bag containing soiled items.

Synonyms

• (faeces or urine etc.): dirt

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English soyl, from Old French soil, souil (“quagmire, marsh”), from Frankish *sōlja, *saulja (“mire, miry place, wallow”), from Proto-Germanic *saulijō (“mud, puddle, feces”), from Proto-Indo-European *sūl- (“thick liquid”). Cognate with Old English syle, sylu, sylen (“miry place, wallow”), Old High German sol, gisol (“miry place”), German Suhle (“a wallow, mud pit, muddy pool”).

Noun

soil (plural soils)

1. A wet or marshy place in which a boar or other such game seeks refuge when hunted.

Etymology 4

From Old French saoler, saouler (“to satiate”).

Verb

soil (third-person singular simple present soils, present participle soiling, simple past and past participle soiled)

1. To feed, as cattle or horses, in the barn or an enclosure, with fresh grass or green food cut for them, instead of sending them out to pasture; hence (due to such food having the effect of purging them) to purge by feeding on green food.

Derived terms

• soilage (“fresh-cut forage”)

References

• “soil”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• LOIs, silo, Lois, Soli, soli, oils, Sol I

Basque

Etymology

Unknown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s̺oi̯l/ [s̺oi̯l]
• Rhymes: -oi̯l
• Hyphenation: soil

Adjective

soil (comparative soilago, superlative soilen, excessive soilegi)

1. barren
2. bare, simple
3. (Navarro-Lapurdian) only, unique
4. bald

Declension

Derived terms

Adverb

soil (comparative soilago, superlative soilen, excessive soilegi)

1. alone, empty
2. completely, very

References

Further reading

• “soil”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy], Euskaltzaindia
• “soil”, in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], Euskaltzaindia, 1987–2005

Rohingya

Etymology

Cognate with Bengali চাল (cal), Assamese চাউল (saul), Hindi चावल (cāval)

Noun

soil

1. rice