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Spoiler   /spˈɔɪlər/   Listen
Spoiler

noun
1.
A candidate with no chance of winning but who may draw enough votes to prevent one of the leading candidates from winning.
2.
Someone who takes spoils or plunder (as in war).  Synonyms: despoiler, freebooter, looter, pillager, plunderer, raider.
3.
Someone who pampers or spoils by excessive indulgence.  Synonyms: coddler, mollycoddler, pamperer.
4.
An airfoil mounted on the rear of a car to reduce lift at high speeds.
5.
A hinged airfoil on the upper surface of an aircraft wing that is raised to reduce lift and increase drag.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Spoiler" Quotes from Famous Books



... and seas,[7] 7 strong, not yielding, whose onset brings down the green corn, smiting the land of the enemy, like the cutting of reeds, the deity who changes not his purposes, 8 the light of heaven and earth, a bold leader on the waters, destroyer of them that hate (him), a spoiler (and) Lord of the disobedient, dividing enemies, whose name in the speech of the gods 9 no god has ever disregarded, the gatherer of life, the god(?) whose prayers are good, whose abode is in the city ...
— Babylonian and Assyrian Literature • Anonymous

... means of redress, but now he protested against a spoliation. "The land," he said, "is mine; it belonged to my father. I have not sold it, or forfeited it, nor pledged it, nor given it. It is my right. I claim it. In the name of God, I forbid you to put the body of the spoiler there, or to cover him with ...
— William the Conqueror - Makers of History • Jacob Abbott

... plumage, with fountains, and trees, and flowers, and ornaments of vast size, of gold and silver and precious stones, many in the form of the shrubs and plants among which they stood, and of workmanship so admirable that they seemed to vie with them in elegance and beauty. But the greedy spoiler came, and behold, stranger, what he made it! Alas! this garden is but an example of the condition to which our unhappy ...
— Manco, the Peruvian Chief - An Englishman's Adventures in the Country of the Incas • W.H.G. Kingston

... outcast is hateful to men. One shall end life on the lofty gallows; Dead shall he hang till the house of his soul, 35 His bloody body is broken and mangled: His eyes shall be plucked by the plundering raven, The sallow-hued spoiler, while soulless he lies, And helpless to fight with his hands in defense Against the grim thief. Gone is his life. 40 With his skin plucked off and his soul departed, The body all bleached shall abide its fate; The death-mist shall ...
— Old English Poems - Translated into the Original Meter Together with Short Selections from Old English Prose • Various

... with hand of steel And heart of gold, hear my appeal: Release me from the spoiler's charms, And bear me to ...
— The Complete Works • James Whitcomb Riley

... the estates possessed by bishops and canons and commendatory abbots, I cannot find out for what reason some landed estates may not be held otherwise than by inheritance. Can any philosophic spoiler undertake to demonstrate the positive or the comparative evil of having a certain, and that, too, a large, portion of landed property passing in succession through persons whose title to it is, always in theory and often in fact, ...
— The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. III. (of 12) • Edmund Burke

... benefit it? Courage to say disagreeable things, when it is necessary to say them for the highest good of the person addressed, is a sublime quality; but a careless habit of saying them, in the mere freedom of family intercourse, is certainly as great a spoiler of the domestic vines ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 93, July, 1865 • Various

... glorious work only now to be begun. But which of you, involved in the same peril with Hermano, will find the friend, in the moment of his need, to take the first step for his rescue? Each of you, in turn, having wealth to tempt the spoiler, will be sure to need such friendship. It seems you do not look for it among one another—where, then, do you propose to find it? Will you seek for it among the Cartagenians—among the other provinces—to Bolivar without? Vain ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXIII No. 2 August 1848 • Various

... soil! how calmly resigned the freemen who yield to the necessity of making strong the altar with the sword of state! How, in the fulness of an expansive soul, these little ones, in lawn so white, spurn the unsanctified spoiler-themselves neck-deep in the very coffers of covetousness the while! How to their christian spirit it seems ordained they should see a people's ekeings serve their rolling in wealth and luxury! and, yet, let no man question their ...
— Our World, or, The Slaveholders Daughter • F. Colburn Adams

... wends his lonely way Where proud Sevilla triumphs unsubdued: Yet is she free—the spoiler's wished-for prey! Soon, soon shall Conquest's fiery foot intrude, Blackening her lovely domes with traces rude. Inevitable hour! 'Gainst fate to strive Where Desolation plants her famished brood Is vain, or Ilion, Tyre, might ...
— Childe Harold's Pilgrimage • Lord Byron

... These venerable stems, that slowly rock Their towering branches in the wintry gale; That field of frost, which glitters in the sun, Mocking the whiteness of a marble breast! Yet man can mar such works with his rude taste, Like some sad spoiler of ...
— The Pioneers • James Fenimore Cooper

... other communities. To be laid to rest 'neath North Carolina pines has been the wish of nearly every pilgrim who has left that dear old home. All this is changed now; That old city is no longer dear. The spoiler is among the works of God. Since the massacre on the 10th of November, 1898, over one thousand of Wilmington's most respected taxpaying citizens have sold and given away their belongings, and like Lot fleeing from Sodom, have hastened away. The lawyer left ...
— Hanover; Or The Persecution of the Lowly - A Story of the Wilmington Massacre. • David Bryant Fulton

... deliver them from such profanation. Heliodorus came, however, to the temple, and was pressing on to the treasury, when suddenly a horse, with a terrible rider, appeared in armour like gold, and cast the spoiler to the ground, while two young men, of marvellous beauty, scourged him on either side, so that when the heavenly champions had vanished, he lay as one dead. Onias prayed for him, and he was restored; the same beings who had struck him down coming to reveal to ...
— The Chosen People - A Compendium Of Sacred And Church History For School-Children • Charlotte Mary Yonge

... and mute, Still pleads the storied tower; These are the blossoms, but the fruit Awaits the golden shower; The spire still greets the morning sun,— Say, shall it stand or fall? Help, ere the spoiler has begun! Help, each, and God ...
— The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Complete • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... before it. And though you should strive against it with all your strength, you would not be able to conquer the light. This shall be made manifest to all who gaze on the moon at night, when they see the black spoiler of the moon ...
— The Hero of Esthonia and Other Studies in the Romantic Literature of That Country • William Forsell Kirby

... of Caracalla, the ruined tombs along the Via Appia, and the tomb of Metella, which is the first to give one a true idea of what solid masonry really is. These men worked for eternity—all causes of decay were calculated, except the rage of the spoiler, which nothing can resist. The remains of the principal aqueduct are highly venerable. How beautiful and grand a design, to supply a whole people with water by so vast a structure! In the evening we came ...
— Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, Volume 7 - Italy, Sicily, and Greece (Part One) • Various

... oftener than usual: gone to the house of the spoiler. Nor did she come home, as she had been wont to do, with radiant eyes, and a soft, sweet smile coming and going, and many a pleasant piece of news to tell off on her nimble fingers. She returned with tear-stained eyelids and a downcast air, and was often altogether silent ...
— Cobwebs and Cables • Hesba Stretton

... a trance, She met the shock of Lochlin's lance. Denmark On her rude invader foe Return'd an hundred fold the blow. Drove the taunting spoiler home: Mournful thence she took her way To do observance at the tomb, Where ...
— The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Vol. 5 • Edited by E. V. Lucas

... 1817, in the possession of Wingfield Halton, Esq., great grandson of the aforesaid Emanuel; but it was not then inhabited. The last of the Halton family who resided at the Manor-House became its spoiler; for, desiring to build himself a house at the foot of the high hill upon which the mansion stands, he pulled down and unroofed part of the fine old structure—so that the hall, with its proud emblazonry ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, No. 576 - Vol. 20 No. 576., Saturday, November 17, 1832 • Various

... youth," said the aged King, "many battles have I dared, and yet must I, the guardian of my people, though I be full of years, seek still another feud. And again will I win glory if the wicked spoiler of my land will but ...
— Young Folks Treasury, Volume 2 (of 12) • Various

... direct to Corcyra; he took with him, besides his troops from Lacedaemon, a body of mercenaries, making a total in all of no less than fifteen hundred men. His disembarked, and soon became master of the island, the country district falling a prey to the spoiler. It was in a high state of cultivation, and rich with fruit-trees, not to speak of magnificent dwelling-houses and wine-cellars fitted up on the farms: so that, it was said, the soldiers reached such a pitch of luxury that they refused to ...
— Hellenica • Xenophon

... change had come over the spirit of the landed gentry since the time when George Stephenson had first projected a railway through that district! Then they were up in arms against him, characterising him as the devastator and spoiler of their estates; now he was hailed as one of the greatest benefactors of the age. Sir Robert Peel, the chief political personage in England, welcomed him as a guest and friend, and spoke of him as the chief among practical philosophers. A dozen members of Parliament, seven baronets, with all ...
— Lives of the Engineers - The Locomotive. George and Robert Stephenson • Samuel Smiles

... stubborn is the foe,— Yon island-strength is guarded well,—say, brothers, will ye go? From home and kin for many a year our steps have wander'd wide, And never may our bones be laid our fathers' graves beside. No children have we to lament, no wives to wail our fall; The traitor's and the spoiler's hand have reft our hearths of all. But we have hearts, and we have arms, as strong to will and dare As when our ancient banners flew within the northern air. Come, brothers! let me name a spell shall rouse your souls again, And send the old blood bounding free through pulse ...
— The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886 • Ministry of Education

... the king who rules the race Of giants, cruel, fierce and base, Ravan the spoiler bears me hence The helpless prey of violence. This fiend who roves in midnight shade By thee, dear bird, can ne'er be stayed, For he is armed and fierce and strong Triumphant in the power to wrong. For thee remains one only task, To do, kind friend, the thing I ask. ...
— The Ramayana • VALMIKI

... these meadows once were ours, And sooth by heaven and all its powers, Think you we will not issue forth, To spoil the spoiler as we may, And from the robber rend ...
— The House of Walderne - A Tale of the Cloister and the Forest in the Days of the Barons' Wars • A. D. Crake

... I have in my mind just now is of a little girl of nine, or perhaps nearly ten, and it seemed to me in this case that this new sense, the very quality which is the spoiler of the child-charm, may sometimes have the effect of enhancing it or revealing it in a new and ...
— A Traveller in Little Things • W. H. Hudson

... let me go with thee, unkind, A small request although I were thy foe, The spoiler seldom leaves the prey behind, Who triumphs lets his captives with him go; Among thy prisoners poor Armida bind, And let the camp increase thy praises so, That thy beguiler so thou couldst beguile, And point at me, thy ...
— Jerusalem Delivered • Torquato Tasso

... millinery shoots me off a mile from a woman A string of pearls: a woman who goes beyond that's in danger Admires a girl when there's no married woman or widow in sight After forty, men have married their habits An old spoiler of women is worse than one spoiled by them! And never did a stroke of work in my life Are we practical?' penetrates the bosom of an English audience As to wit, the sneer is the cloak of clumsiness Contemptuous exclusiveness could not go farther Discover the writers ...
— Quotations from the Works of George Meredith • David Widger

... you. But no: I retract the word; we must avoid an expression which is violent; perhaps, indeed, incorrect; inasmuch as this spoliation, wrapped in the sophisms which disguise it, is practised, we must believe, without the intention of the spoiler, and with the consent of the spoiled. But it is nevertheless true that you are deprived of the just remuneration of your labor, while no one thinks of causing justice to be rendered to you. If you could be consoled by the noisy appeals of your ...
— What Is Free Trade? - An Adaptation of Frederic Bastiat's "Sophismes Econimiques" - Designed for the American Reader • Frederic Bastiat

... repelled, and finally extinguished, that flame. From that moment I have sought revenge—I have found it—the bravest of the Nansemonds are enclosed like a partridge in a net, soon like that partridge to be food for the spoiler." ...
— Traditions of the North American Indians, Vol. 3 (of 3) • James Athearn Jones

... call fools and fanatics,—if any such come to you from other countries, as from France or England, or any other place. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers. Hide the outcasts, betray not him that wandereth. Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab. Be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler." ...
— Historic Tales, Vol. 1 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality • Charles Morris

... my rede! Is't done, the deed? Good night, you poor, poor thing! The spoiler's lies, His arts despise, Nor yield your prize, Without the ...
— Faust Part 1 • Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

... what have I to do with Religion! Is Beauty the worse, or a kind Wench to be refus'd for Conventickling? She lives high on the Spoils of a glorious Kingdom, and why may not I live upon the Sins of the Spoiler? [Aside. ...
— The Works of Aphra Behn, Vol. I (of 6) • Aphra Behn

... quickly, admiring the 80,000 men that the obscure sovereignty had raised from the subjects of a little kingdom. France, Spain, Poland, and Bavaria allied themselves with the spoiler against Maria Theresa, who sought the aid of England. She {151} seemed in desperate straits, the victim of treachery, for Frederick had promised to support her. The Battle of Molwitz went against Austria, and the Empress was fain ...
— Heroes of Modern Europe • Alice Birkhead

... what I shall have, boy, if you drag me before that devil. He will strike me from the bar at once, and starve me, and all my family. Here, lad, good lad, take these two guineas. Thou hast despoiled the spoiler. Never again will I trust mine eyes for ...
— Lorna Doone - A Romance of Exmoor • R. D. Blackmore

... years a lengthen'd term deserve; When humbled in the dust, let some one be, Whose gentle eyes will shed one tear for me; Whose manly arm may snatch me back by force, Or wealth redeem, from foes, my captive corse; Or, if my destiny these last deny, If, in the spoiler's power, my ashes lie; 70 Thy pious care may raise a simple tomb, To mark thy love, and signalise my doom. Why should thy doating wretched mother weep Her only boy, reclin'd in endless sleep? Who, ...
— Byron's Poetical Works, Vol. 1 • Byron

... came forth, creeping helplessly with inch-long steps of his linen-bound limbs. 'Ha, ha! brother, sister!' cries the human heart. The Lord of Life hath taken the prey from the spoiler; he hath emptied the grave. Here comes the dead man, welcome as never was child from the womb—new-born, and in him all the human race new-born from the grave! 'Loose him and let him go,' and the work is done. The sorrow is over, and ...
— The Seaboard Parish Vol. 3 • George MacDonald

... figures which were merely painted on the walls of the chapel, they detached themselves, and assumed material bodies inside the serdab. Notwithstanding these precautions, all possible means were taken to guard the remains of the fleshly body from natural decay and the depredations of the spoiler. In the tomb of Ti, an inclined passage, starting from the middle of the first hall, leads from the upper world to the sepulchral vault; but this is almost a solitary exception. Generally, the vault is reached by way of a vertical shaft ...
— Manual Of Egyptian Archaeology And Guide To The Study Of Antiquities In Egypt • Gaston Camille Charles Maspero

... us wait till the hour has come till all things be ripe for action. Tell us, has not that hour come? Hast thou not come to bid us draw the sword, and wrest our rightful inheritance from the hand of the spoiler and alien?" ...
— The Lord of Dynevor • Evelyn Everett-Green

... the crimes of his youth and the timid selfishness of his middle age, stand in the sight of posterity. He made use of his power only to betray Milan; he took from the citizens all means of defence, and then gave them up to the spoiler; he promised to defend them "to the last drop of his blood," and sold them the next minute; even the paltry terms he made, he has not seen maintained. Had the people slain him in their rage, he well deserved it at their hands; and all his conduct since show how righteous ...
— At Home And Abroad - Or, Things And Thoughts In America and Europe • Margaret Fuller Ossoli

... the best advantage. And for some years he did engage in business to advantage, the same strangely good luck attending him, and prospering wonderfully in all he undertook, till he gained the reputation of being among the wealthiest of the city. But the spoiler came in a second appearance of Gaut Gurley, who, having squandered in the country the bounteous sums of money which Elwood had paid him for his services, now followed the latter to the city. And, with the coming of that ...
— Gaut Gurley • D. P. Thompson

... to grieve or sleep, which innocence Alone may wear. With ruthless haste he bound The silken fringes of those curtained lids Forever. There had been a murmuring sound, With which the babe would claim its mother's ear, Charming her even to tears. The spoiler set His seal of silence. But there beamed a smile So fixed, so holy, from that cherub brow, Death gazed—and left it there. He dared not steal ...
— The Christian Home • Samuel Philips

... transepts are measured by miles, Whose chancel has morning for priest, Whose floor-work the foot of no spoiler defiles, Whose musical silence no music beguiles, No festivals ...
— Astrophel and Other Poems - Taken from The Collected Poetical Works of Algernon Charles - Swinburne, Vol. VI • Algernon Charles Swinburne

... you were twelve years ago, trudging by my side, valiant to fight if the Lord but wills it! But have no fear, boy. This time we go far beyond all that may tempt the spoiler. We go into the desert, where no humans are but the wretched red Lamanites; no beasts but the wild ones of four feet to hunger for our flesh; no verdure, no nourishment to sustain us save the manna from on high,—a region of ...
— The Lions of the Lord - A Tale of the Old West • Harry Leon Wilson

... now subdue these combative propensities, or render them harmless; turn their anger to submission, and make them yield their treasures to the hands of the spoiler without an effort of resistance! When once overpowered, they seem to lose all knowledge of their strength, and no slave can be more submissive! After the effects of the smoke have passed off, their former animosity ...
— Mysteries of Bee-keeping Explained • M. Quinby

... Spoiler of forbidden wealth, Guarded by the hoary waves! When we mourn thy cruel stealth, Sorrowing for our quiet caves. Doth it calm our wistful pining That the chains we hate are shining? Boast we beauty's gauds to ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 20, No. - 581, Saturday, December 15, 1832 • Various

... be the consequences of its abolition; no matter if we have to dismantle our fleets, and our unprotected commerce should fall a prey to the spoiler, the awful admonitions of justice and humanity demand that abolition without procrastination; in a voice that is not to be mistaken, demand that abolition today. It is not a dollar-and-cent question of expediency; it is a matter of right and wrong. And if any man can lay his hand on his ...
— White Jacket - or, the World on a Man-of-War • Herman Melville

... not that they shall, but that they might. Acton's criminal state of mind, and his hunger after gold—gold any how—have earned some righteous retribution, unless Providence in mercy interpose; and young Sir John, in nowise unblameable himself, with wealth to tempt the spoiler, lives in the spoiler's very den; and as to Jonathan and Grace, this world has many martyrs. If Heaven in its wisdom use the wicked as a sword, Heaven is but just; but if in its vengeance that sword of ...
— The Complete Prose Works of Martin Farquhar Tupper • Martin Farquhar Tupper

... robber, homo triumliterarum [Lat.], pilferer, rifler, filcher^, plagiarist. spoiler, depredator, pillager, marauder; harpy, shark [Slang], land shark, falcon, mosstrooper^, bushranger^, Bedouin^, brigand, freebooter, bandit, thug, dacoit^; pirate, corsair, viking, Paul Jones^, buccaneer, ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget

... describe, in numbers rude, The pangs for poor Chrysomitris decreed, When from her secret stand aghast she viewed The cruel spoiler perpetrate the deed? ...
— English Poets of the Eighteenth Century • Selected and Edited with an Introduction by Ernest Bernbaum

... hateful thing!—just because you're bigger than Kep!" and Constance fell on the spoiler. As her mother's right-hand man she had cuffed and slapped her way to a place of power ...
— The Prodigal Judge • Vaughan Kester

... further invasion of her rights. This compact was formally guaranteed by the government of Bengal. But times had changed; money was wanted; and the power which had given the guarantee was not ashamed to instigate the spoiler to excesses such that even he shrank ...
— Critical and Historical Essays, Volume III (of 3) • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... twain the empire of David and Solomon. United, the tribes might have maintained an empire capable of offering successful resistance to the encroachments of the powerful and ambitious monarchs about them. But now the land becomes an easy prey to the spoiler. It is henceforth the pathway of the conquering armies of the Nile and the Euphrates. Between the powerful monarchies of these regions, as between an upper and nether millstone, the little kingdoms are destined, one after the other, to be ground ...
— A General History for Colleges and High Schools • P. V. N. Myers

... real life he's a theatrical manager and his name on the three-sheets is Peter J. Badtime, the Human Salary Spoiler. ...
— Get Next! • Hugh McHugh

... rag!" cried the sister, snatching me dexterously out of the spoiler's hands; "and 'Henny,' too! This is not a bit of a rag, sir, but a very pretty pocket-handkerchief, and you must very well know that Mademoiselle Hennequin is not likely to be the owner ...
— Autobiography of a Pocket-Hankerchief • James Fenimore Cooper

... his time—with a club," Fergus replied. "He kept making hits, he did. Orion was a spoiler. When he took the field there was no room for the rest of the race. Why does he rise? Because it is a habit. They could always get a rise out of Orion. The Athens Eirenicon said that yeast might fail to rise, but touch the button and Orion ...
— Northern Lights • Gilbert Parker

... seen 'im. Advertising. He had run away so much that they had to advertise and sell 'im. He never would run away from Miss Susan. She was good to him till she got that old nigger beater Phipps. Her husband, Reed, was called a nigger spoiler. My father was an old man when Phipps was on overseer and wasn't able to ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States - Volume II. Arkansas Narratives. Part I • Work Projects Administration

... hand into his pouch, "ye fled, and left me to be spoiled by the spoiler, but ye see I have ...
— Master Skylark • John Bennett

... is not proper to conceal. Alas! my father; thou hast entrusted thy lamb to the guardianship of the lion. Thy daughter has been dishonored, the royal cradle of the Goths polluted, and our lineage insulted and disgraced. Hasten, my father, to rescue your child from the power of the spoiler, and to vindicate the honor ...
— Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, March 1844 - Volume 23, Number 3 • Various

... erected the cross, which he calls "St. Augustine's Cross"; but there is little doubt that Paulinus was the founder. In Puritan times this and other relics of early faith suffered badly, and was removed with two others from the churchyard, and used as a gatepost; but the spoiler repented, and restored it once more to ...
— English Villages • P. H. Ditchfield

... each filled his hands, forgetful of the twain, Their comrades good, on guard who stood to watch the moor and main. But when their lonely vigil o'er, they, Roin and Aild, came, And found how little friendship counts, when played the spoiler's game, Sore angered that no hand for them had set apart a prize, They murmured. "With such men of greed all faith and kindness dies! When thus they deal with us in peace, how shall we fare when blood Runs from the wounds to blind the eyes to aught but selfish good?" They ...
— Memories of Canada and Scotland - Speeches and Verses • John Douglas Sutherland Campbell

... Rolandi et Cie. was printed upon it, but there was nothing which told me whence it came or how long it had been there. Only that scribbled word Hereingefallen on the newly-scraped plaster seemed to fix a date on the spoiler's visit. It appeared to me that no one would have taken the trouble to chalk up a jibe unless he had good reasons for supposing that some one else would come after to read and appreciate it. And yet this was only a guess. The whole affair was too mysterious to ...
— The Recipe for Diamonds • Charles John Cutcliffe Wright Hyne

... she that seeming marble heart, Now mask'd in silence or withheld by pride, Was not unskillful in the spoiler's art, And spreads its snares licentious far and wide; Nor from the base pursuit had turn'd aside, As long as ...
— My Recollections of Lord Byron • Teresa Guiccioli

... sport spoiler and bruiser, eh? Some combination." And Siebold turned away with something too much like a sneer on his fine face. Gus was hurt, but smiled, as usual. Tony resented ...
— Radio Boys Loyalty - Bill Brown Listens In • Wayne Whipple

... their heritage, Far from our fathers' seats and sepulchres, And girdled with the growing glooms of war; Resting a moment here, a moment there, Whilst ever through our plains and forest realms Bursts the pale spoiler, armed, with eager quest, And ruinous lust of land. I think of all— And own Tecumseh right. 'Tis he alone Can stem this tide of sorrows dark and deep; So must I bend my feeble will to his, And, for my ...
— Tecumseh: A Drama • Charles Mair

... handsome room, a well-covered table—all the appliances of modern luxury—plate and crystal sparkling in the brilliant lights—a happy cheerful party surrounding the board. Alas, for the tragedy played on this stage! The hand of the spoiler was there—blood and womens' screams, dishevelled hair and men's deep oaths, the wild and broken accents of despair, the coarse jest and ferocious exultation of gratified brutality. And then all was dark and gloomy as a winter's night, and through the darkness was seen a grave-stone, ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXII. - June, 1843.,Vol. LIII. • Various

... mean it: his to give the law! Detested spoiler!—his! a vile usurper! Have we forgot the elder Dionysius, Surnam'd the Tyrant? To Sicilia's throne The monster waded through whole seas of blood. Sore groan'd the land beneath his iron rod, Till rous'd ...
— The Grecian Daughter • Arthur Murphy

... buccaneer, freebooter, pirate, corsair, raider, burglar, footpad, highwayman, depredator, spoiler, despoiler, forager, pillager, plunderer, marauder, myrmimdon>. (With this group compare ...
— The Century Vocabulary Builder • Creever & Bachelor

... Pineapples, in triple row, Were basking hot, and all in blow. A Bee of most deserving taste Perceived the fragrance as he pass'd. On eager wing the spoiler came, And searched for crannies in the frame, Urged his attempt on every side, To every pane his trunk applied; But still in vain, the frame was tight, And only pervious to the light: Thus having wasted half the day, He trimm'd ...
— The Talking Beasts • Various

... her seventeenth year—but how is this? Why does her cheek begin to get alternately pale and red? And why does the horizon of the father's heart begin to darken? Alas! it is so—the spoiler is upon her at last. Appetite is gone—her spirits are gone, unless in these occasional ebullitions of vivacity which resemble the lightnings which flash from the cloud that is gathering over her. It would be painful to dwell minutely upon the history ...
— The Evil Eye; Or, The Black Spector - The Works of William Carleton, Volume One • William Carleton

... hollow-sounding bittern guards its nest; Amidst thy desert walks the lapwing flies, And tires their echoes with unvaried cries. Sunk are thy bowers in shapeless ruin all, And the long grass overtops the moldering wall; And, trembling, shrinking from the spoiler's hand, Far, far away, ...
— Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Vol. 1 of 14 - Little Journeys to the Homes of Good Men and Great • Elbert Hubbard

... dives into the abyss, down which the spoiler drags her by successive jerks. She is drawn into the low-ceilinged tunnel. Here the wings cease to flutter, for lack of space. She reaches the knacker's cellar, at the end of the corridor. The Scarites ...
— The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles • Jean Henri Fabre

... for their Country in many a well fought field—for more than five Campaigns among others an old Sergeant of mine has felt his rapacity by the Industry of this man's wife they had accumulated something handsome to support them in their advanced age—which coming to the knowledge of this cruel Spoiler—he borrowed 4500 dollars from the poor Credulous Woman & left ...
— Colonel John Brown, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the Brave Accuser of Benedict Arnold • Archibald Murray Howe

... shrine that holds the jewel that should be dearest in your eyes," returned Peter; "haste, and arrest the spoiler's hand." ...
— Rookwood • William Harrison Ainsworth

... the manner I have mentioned, and that too in a professedly free and Christian country. There is, however, great consolation in knowing that God is just, and will not let the oppressor of the weak, and the spoiler of the virtuous, ...
— Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom • William and Ellen Craft

... victory's cry! O'er woodland and fountain it rings to the sky! The foe has retreated! he flees to the shore; The spoiler's defeated—the combat ...
— Successful Recitations • Various

... provocation, in order to attract general attention to their fine (?) horsemanship. Their method is first to job the animal in the mouth, and when he exhibits the resulting signs of irritated surprise, to "lamb" him well. Another kind of horse-spoiler is the man who, having been angered by some person, vents his pent-up rage on his unfortunate mount. Far be it from me to call down the wrath of the lords of creation on my thin head by denouncing them all as cruel monsters, but my experience is that, in the majority ...
— The Horsewoman - A Practical Guide to Side-Saddle Riding, 2nd. Ed. • Alice M. Hayes

... bed that night at the inn I turned over the pages of my pocket volume of M. Zeller's Histoire de France racontee par les contemporains, and hit on the "Souvenirs du brigand Aimerigot Marches," ravisher of women, spoiler of men, devourer of widows' houses. And as I read, it seemed as though I were back in the department du Contentieux of the Ministry of War in Paris deciphering the pages of a German officer's field ...
— Leaves from a Field Note-Book • J. H. Morgan

... he made the great Pasha smile on him; who, however he may talk of living in cities now, could come cringing to El Sham to ask for the contract of the Hadj, by which he had gained ten thousand camels; he need say nothing of all this, and, least of all, need he say that the spoiler is ...
— Tancred - Or, The New Crusade • Benjamin Disraeli

... than might! Millions would trample us Down in their pride. Lay, thou, their legions low; Roll back the ruthless foe; Let the proud spoiler ...
— War Poetry of the South • Various

... lands will be ruined. The river demands them as a reservoir for her surplus waters when in flood." But enterprise was undeterred; the levees went up and the settlements went on to increase; and when the spoiler came all the valley was dotted over with pretty villages and magnificent cotton plantations, containing and sustaining a prosperous, rich, intelligent, and happy population. They are swept away, and ruin reigns over ...
— The Memories of Fifty Years • William H. Sparks

... be seen. "Black as Orcus," said one of the fellows, "another torch there! I can't see where she nestles." "There she is, like a bundle of clothes," said another. "Madam gets up late this morning," said a third. "She's used to softer couches," said a fourth. "Ha! ha! 'tis a spoiler of beauty, this hole," said a fifth. "She is the demon of stubbornness, and must be crushed," said the jailer; "she likes it, or she would not choose it." "The plague take the witch," said another; "we shall have better seasons when a few ...
— Callista • John Henry Cardinal Newman

... were confiscated to the ruin of the merchants; and a great number of English vessels in the harbour made a narrow escape. The grand duke, in place of resenting these injuries, was obliged to receive Buonaparte with all the appearances of cordiality at Florence; and the spoiler repaid his courtesy by telling him, rubbing his hands with glee, during the princely entertainment provided for him, "I have just received letters from Milan; the citadel has fallen;—your brother has no longer a foot of land in Lombardy." ...
— The History of Napoleon Buonaparte • John Gibson Lockhart

... gold from the great temple, filling the vacant places with the cheaper, but—since it affords no temptation to avarice—more durable, material of plaster. Yet even thus shorn of their splendor, the venerable edifices still presented an attraction to the spoiler, who found in their dilapidated walls an inexhaustable quarry for the erection of other buildings. On the very ground once crowned by the gorgeous Coricancha rose the stately church of St. Dominic, one of the most magnificent structures of the New World. Fields of maize ...
— History Of The Conquest Of Peru • William Hickling Prescott

... then stole into the sick chamber with noiseless steps. Miss Thusa was awakened by a metallic, grating sound, and beheld, with unspeakable horror, her beloved wheel lying in fragments at the feet of the spoiler. The detection, the arrest, the ...
— Helen and Arthur - or, Miss Thusa's Spinning Wheel • Caroline Lee Hentz

... 90 Nine moons shall rise o'er scenes like this and set;[298] The chiefless army of the dead, which late Beneath the traitor Prince's banner met, Hath left its leader's ashes at the gate; Had but the royal Rebel lived, perchance Thou hadst been spared, but his involved thy fate. Oh! Rome, the Spoiler or the spoil of France, From Brennus to the Bourbon, never, never Shall foreign standard to thy walls advance, But Tiber shall become a mournful river. 100 Oh! when the strangers pass the Alps and Po, Crush them, ye ...
— The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 4 • Lord Byron

... the hills we bless Thee, Our God, our fathers' God! Thou hast made Thy children mighty By the touch of the mountain sod, Thou hast fixed our ark of refuge Where the spoiler's foot ne'er trod; For the strength of the hills we bless Thee, Our God, ...
— The Vaudois of Piedmont - A Visit to their Valleys • John Napper Worsfold

... should so speedily be brought down to "darkness and the worm." You will be told of some wintry chill, some casual indisposition, that laid her low;—but no one knows of the mental malady which previously sapped her strength, and made her so easy a prey to the spoiler. ...
— The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. • Washington Irving

... manuscripts from the Vatican; the cession of the provinces of Bologna and Ferrara; the cession of the port and citadel of Ancona; and the closing of all the papal ports to the English and their allies. The spoiler was recalled from this work by intelligence that old Wurmser was marching against him from the Valley of Trento, with an army consisting of nearly 60,000 men. Napoleon was besieging Mantua when he heard of the approach of the German veteran; and drawing his army from thence, he hastened to meet ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

... the altars of God overthrown, and His Priests slain with the sword. Even to-day they point to the mulberry tree of Isaiah, where one of the greatest of the prophets was slain in the Valley of Kedron. Still looking back, we see the hand of the spoiler and the oppressor busy with the city which had forgotten God—forgotten the things which concerned its peace. The ruined walls, the desecrated temple, the mournful band of exiles, all these seem to pass before us like a dream. ...
— The Life of Duty, v. 2 - A year's plain sermons on the Gospels or Epistles • H. J. Wilmot-Buxton

... made a tyrant of your son, Mrs. Bogardus. He's the Universal Spoiler! He'll ruin my striker, Jephson. I shall have to send the fellow back to the ranks. I don't know how you keep a servant good ...
— The Desert and The Sown • Mary Hallock Foote

... willow that harp is suspended, Oh Salem! its sound should be free;[ml] And the hour when thy glories were ended But left me that token of thee: And ne'er shall its soft tones be blended With the voice of the Spoiler by me! ...
— The Works Of Lord Byron, Vol. 3 (of 7) • Lord Byron

... (Another somewhat novel view, by the way, of Gospel history.) "Secondly, you should learn whether any tribunal in the world, in the name of common justice, would place the victim under the protection and guarantee of his spoiler." When M expresses a doubt whether there is any career for a soldier or statesman under the Papal Government, his doubts are removed by the reflection that the Roman statesmen are no worse off than the French, and that, if Roman soldiers don't fight, and Roman orators don't speak, ...
— Rome in 1860 • Edward Dicey

... Woman should be. Columns! graceful decorums, attractive yet sheltering. Porch! noble, inviting aspect of the life. Kaos! receives the worshippers. See here the statue of the Divinity. Ophistodpmos! Sanctuary where the most precious possessions were kept safe from the hand of the spoiler and the eye ...
— Woman in the Ninteenth Century - and Kindred Papers Relating to the Sphere, Condition - and Duties, of Woman. • Margaret Fuller Ossoli

... wrong his worthy neighbour, By dint of quoting the texts of Blair, And singing the songs of Weber; Sir Harry will leave the Craven hounds, To trace the guilty parties— And ask of the Court five thousand pounds, To prove how rack'd his heart is: An Advocate will execrate The spoiler of Hymen's shrine— And the speech that did for Twenty-eight ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, No. 351 - Volume 13, Saturday, January 10, 1829 • Various

... the spot, But wheeling round, and wheeling round, The cruel spoiler aim'd a shot, Cured her heart's wound, cured her heart's wound. She will not hear their helpless cry, Nor see them pine in slavery! The burning breast she will not bide, For wrongs of ...
— The Modern Scottish Minstrel , Volume I. - The Songs of Scotland of the past half century • Various

... of Dabook, from whence they say the Dabookeh grapes at Hebron {39} had their origin; but there are none to be seen here now (see Jer. xlviii. 32, 33)—"O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer: thy plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer: the spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage. And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to fail from the wine-presses," etc.: with nearly the same words in ...
— Byeways in Palestine • James Finn

... qvq vg!" Most Usenet news reading and posting programs include a rot13 feature. It is used to enclose the text in a sealed wrapper that the reader must choose to open — e.g., for posting things that might offend some readers, or {spoiler}s. A major advantage of rot13 over rot(N) for other N is that it is self-inverse, so the same code can be ...
— The Jargon File, Version 4.0.0

... institution is abolished, concubinage, adultery, and incest, must not necessarily abound; when all the rights of humanity are annihilated, any barrier remains to protect the victim from the fury of the spoiler; when absolute power is assumed over life and liberty, it will not be wielded with destructive sway! Skeptics of this character abound in society. In some few instances, their incredulity arises from a want of reflection; ...
— The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass - An American Slave • Frederick Douglass

... become A spoil for strangers? Have I cause to grieve That Hungary quit us? O that I could find Some noble of our land might dare to mix His equal blood with our Castillian seed! Art thou more learned in our pedigrees? Hast thou no friend, no kinsman? Must this realm Fall to the spoiler, and a foreign graft Be nourished by ...
— Count Alarcos - A Tragedy • Benjamin Disraeli

... the Rattle-snake) and Winifred Griffiths, being the only two women on board, had cast lots for the appropriation of the children. The happier lot had fallen upon Bertram: for, though it gave him up to the cruel spoiler that had pierced the hearts of his parents, yet had it thrown him upon a quiet life in a humble village of Germany where he was spared that spectacle of storm and guilt which had pursued the youthful ...
— Walladmor: - And Now Freely Translated from the German into English. - In Two Volumes. Vol. II. • Thomas De Quincey

... fatherly authority in the eyes of the whole Christian world. He had patiently made an advance towards his wayward child; and she had repudiated and scorned him. Nothing was left but to recognise and treat her as an enemy of the Faith, an usurper of spiritual prerogatives, and an apostate spoiler of churches; to do this might certainly bring trouble upon others of his less distinguished but more obedient children, who were in her power; but to pretend that the suffering thus brought down ...
— By What Authority? • Robert Hugh Benson

... two days the face of things was changed. A party of soldiers, 300 strong, were dispatched by Napoleon, under the command of General Clausel. The troops of the line here, as everywhere else, betrayed their trust, and joined the rebels, and Bourdeaux was delivered up to the spoiler. ...
— Travels in France during the years 1814-1815 • Archibald Alison

... book procured was obtained from a woman named Ay[^a]sta, "The Spoiler," and had been written by her husband, Gahuni, who died about 30 years ago. The matter was not difficult to arrange, as she had already been employed on several occasions, so that she understood ...
— The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees • James Mooney

... pale moonlight, from the eminence on which he stood, the weird and solitary figure of Ulpius—the apparition of a Pagan in the gorgeous robes of his priesthood, bidden back from the tombs to stay the hand of the spoiler before the shrine ...
— Antonina • Wilkie Collins

... the strength and the stay Of the daughters of Zion;—now up, and away; Lo, the hunters have struck her, and bleeding alone Like a pard in the desert she maketh her moan: Up with war-horse and banner, with spear and with sword, On the spoiler go down in ...
— Wyandotte • James Fenimore Cooper

... two gentlewomen, that since it must be so, and since your former esteem for me is turned into so riveted an aversion, I will soon, very soon, make you entirely easy. I will be gone:—I will leave you to your own fate, as you call it; and may that be happy!—Only, that I may not appear to be a spoiler, a robber indeed, let me know whither I shall send your apparel, and every thing that belongs to you, and ...
— Clarissa, Volume 5 (of 9) • Samuel Richardson

... my thoughts glance backwards and linger over the little sleeper upon that sofa, so calm and beautiful in death, a voice seems sounding from the pages of Revelation that she shall not always remain thus, a prey to the spoiler. That having accomplished his work, "ashes to ashes," "dust to dust," Death shall have no more power, even over the little body which he now ...
— Mrs Whittelsey's Magazine for Mothers and Daughters - Volume 3 • Various

... blood hath risen unto heaven, and, collected into thunder-clouds, hangs over the doomed and guilty city. And now, Ximen, I have a new cause for hatred to the Moors: the flower that I have reared and watched, the spoiler hath sought to pluck it from my hearth. Leila—thou hast guarded her ill, Ximen; and, wert thou not endeared to me by thy very malice and vices, the rising sun should have seen thy trunk on the ...
— Leila or, The Siege of Granada, Book I. • Edward Bulwer Lytton

... Hence, and rejoice. The glorious work is done. A spark is thrown that shall eclipse the sun! And, tho' bad men shall long thy course pursue, As erst the ravening brood o'er chaos flew, [Footnote 12] He, whom I serve, shall vindicate his reign; The spoiler spoil'd of all; [e] the slayer slain; [Footnote 13] The tyrant's self, oppressing and opprest, Mid gems and gold unenvied and unblest: [Footnote 14] While to the starry sphere thy name shall rise, (Not there unsung thy generous enterprise!) Thine in all hearts to dwell—by Fame enshrin'd, ...
— Poems • Samuel Rogers

... rendered him the last 'good office,'" said he. "It only remains to seek yonder vessel, and find out who spoiled the spoiler, and, if possible, recover the valuables and ...
— Adrift in the Ice-Fields • Charles W. Hall

... and 'least' by me: Chief of thy foes shall Pallas still be found. Seek'st thou the cause of loathing!—look around. Lo! here, despite of war and wasting fire, I saw successive Tyrannies expire; 'Scaped from the ravage of the Turk and Goth, [xi] Thy country sends a spoiler worse than both. Survey this vacant, violated fane; Recount the relics torn that yet remain: 100 'These' Cecrops placed, 'this' Pericles adorned, [7] 'That' Adrian reared when drooping Science mourned. ...
— Byron's Poetical Works, Vol. 1 • Byron

... Fare not forth to the field, 25 Nor walk on the way, For the sword of a foe, Terror all round! Daughter of My people, gird on thee sackcloth 26 And wallow in ashes! Mourn as for an only-begotten, Wail of the bitterest! For of a sudden there cometh The spoiler upon us.(256) ...
— Jeremiah • George Adam Smith

... rushed the bold eagle exultingly forth From his home in the dark-rolling clouds of the north? Lo! the death shot of foemen outspeeding, he rode Companionless, bearing destruction abroad; But down let him stoop from his havoc on high! Ah! home let him speed, for the spoiler is nigh. Why flames the far summit? Why shoot to the blast Those embers, like stars from the firmament cast? 'T is the fire shower of ruin, all dreadfully driven From his eyrie that beacons the darkness of ...
— McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader • William Holmes McGuffey

... Ulysses hath achieved, but this by far 330 Transcends his former praise, that he hath quell'd Such contumelious rhetoric profuse. The valiant talker shall not soon, we judge, Take liberties with royal names again.[10] So spake the multitude. Then, stretching forth 335 The sceptre, city-spoiler Chief, arose Ulysses. Him beside, herald in form, Appeared Minerva. Silence she enjoined To all, that all Achaia's sons might hear, Foremost and rearmost, and might weigh his words. 340 He then his counsel, prudent, thus proposed. Atrides! Monarch! The Achaians seek ...
— The Iliad of Homer - Translated into English Blank Verse • Homer

... intelligence were undoubtedly laid in the confiscation of 1610. Nor did the measure meet with any opposition at the time save that of secret discontent. The evicted natives withdrew sullenly to the lands which had been left them by the spoiler, but all faith in English justice had been torn from the minds of the Irishry, and the seed had been sown of that fatal harvest of distrust and disaffection which was to be reaped through tyranny and massacre in the age ...
— History of the English People, Volume V (of 8) - Puritan England, 1603-1660 • John Richard Green

... Godfrey of Eenham, whom the emperor had created duke of Lower Lorraine, was commanded to call the whole country to arms. The bishop of Liege, though actually dying, put himself at the head of the expedition, to revenge his brother prelate, and punish the audacious spoiler of the church property. But Thierry and his fierce Frisons took Godfrey prisoner, and cut his army in pieces. The victor had the good sense and moderation to spare his prisoners, and set them free without ransom. He received in return an imperial amnesty; and from that ...
— Holland - The History of the Netherlands • Thomas Colley Grattan



Words linked to "Spoiler" :   stealer, mortal, campaigner, buccaneer, someone, sea robber, sea rover, warfare, person, candidate, pirate, aerofoil, spoil, soul, surface, control surface, airfoil, nominee, thief, individual, somebody, war



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