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Spoilt

adjective
1.
Having the character or disposition harmed by pampering or oversolicitous attention.  Synonym: spoiled.
2.
(of foodstuffs) not in an edible or usable condition.  Synonyms: bad, spoiled.  "A refrigerator full of spoilt food"
3.
Affected by blight; anything that mars or prevents growth or prosperity.  Synonym: blighted.  "Blighted urban districts"






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Spoilt" Quotes from Famous Books



... future? Out of the corner of his eye he saw Cuningham, neat, amiable, and self-possessed, sitting in a corner by Lady Findon, who smiled and chatted incessantly. And it was clear to him that Welby was the spoilt child of the room. Wherever he went men and women grouped themselves about him; there was a constant eagerness to capture him, an equal reluctance to let ...
— Fenwick's Career • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... the insect is seeking, namely, the young larva of the Mason-bee enclosed in its cocoon. Their contents consist of the refuse so often met with in old Chalicodoma-nests: liquid honey left unemployed, because the egg has perished; spoilt provisions, sometimes mildewed, or sometimes a tarry mass; a dead larva, stiffened into a brown cylinder; the shrivelled corpse of a perfect insect, which lacked the strength to effect its deliverance; dust and rubbish which has come ...
— The Mason-bees • J. Henri Fabre

... fifty—that I swear! Not a word yet of real business—not one word! He may be a poet. I daresay he is. He's a conceited ass. Why, even Bryany was better than that lot. Only Sachs turned Bryany out. I like Sachs. But he won't open his mouth.... 'Capitalist'! Well, they spoilt my appetite, and I hate champagne!... The poet hates money.... No, he 'hates the thought of money.' And she's changing her mind the whole blessed time! A month ago she'd have gone over to Pilgrim, and the poet too, like a house-a-fire!...Photographed ...
— The Regent • E. Arnold Bennett

... she's pretty. Her hair is wonderful, an' she's got them big brown eyes an' pink cheeks. I'm proud as Tophet of her. If it warn't fur Abbie I figger the three captains an' I would have the child clean spoilt. But Abbie's always kept a firm hand on us an' prevented us from puttin' nonsensical notions into Delight's head. Much of the way she's turned out is due to Abbie's common sense. Well, the girl's a mighty nice one," concluded Zenas Henry. ...
— Flood Tide • Sara Ware Bassett

... medieval poetry one of the chief sources of the psychology in which it took delight,—an original and authoritative representation of the beginning and growth of the passion of love, not yet spoilt by the pedantry which later displayed itself unrestrained in the following generations of amatory poets, and which took its finest form in the poem of Guillaume de Lorris; but yet at the same time giving a starting-point and some encouragement to the later pedants, by its study ...
— Epic and Romance - Essays on Medieval Literature • W. P. Ker

... poor judge of character, besides, you would hardly give me credit for being impartial. They say he is spoilt by his mother and sisters, by whom he is perfectly idolized and to whom he is, in ...
— A Book For The Young • Sarah French

... not been spoilt by an experience of "bonnes fortunes." The poverty against which he had struggled so long never leads to affairs of gallantry, and since he had thrown off its harsh restraint, his mind being wholly given up to the anxious work of creating his ...
— The Lesser Bourgeoisie • Honore de Balzac

... That's right. Young scoundrels. Spoilt a basket of pears that were not ripe. Young dogs! I'll put glass bottles all along the walls, and see how they like that. There, be ...
— Brownsmith's Boy - A Romance in a Garden • George Manville Fenn

... anger on the Captain's part, caused her to commence crying, as she knew that he could not resist so powerful an appeal to his sympathy. The result equalled her anticipations. The Captain soon lost all his irritation and began to console her, as if she were a spoilt child; finally, she induced him to go driving with them that afternoon. The Captain told me afterward, that Pattmore behaved with great propriety during the drive, and that they did not seem to be so much in love ...
— The Somnambulist and the Detective - The Murderer and the Fortune Teller • Allan Pinkerton

... see them for the first time only a few moments before the commencement of the trance. Indeed, they were often only introduced after the trance had begun. These precautions have never injured the results. The sittings, at least those which were not spoilt by the medium's state of health, have always been marked by a large number of perfectly ...
— Mrs. Piper & the Society for Psychical Research • Michael Sage

... of density or the patient upheaving of strata—is of no account. Whatever would put God in a poem or system of philosophy as contending against some being or influence is also of no account. Sanity and ensemble characterize the great master ... spoilt in one principle all is spoilt. The great master has nothing to do with miracles. He sees health for himself in being one of the mass ... he sees the hiatus in singular eminence. To the perfect shape comes common ground. To be under the general law is great, ...
— Prefaces and Prologues to Famous Books - with Introductions, Notes and Illustrations • Charles W. Eliot

... and said to them, 'I wish you to drill me this jewel. Whoso pierceth it, I will give him whatsoever he shall ask; but if he break it, I will cut off his head.' At this they were afraid and said, 'O King of the age, a jewel is soon spoilt and there are few who can pierce them without injury, for most of them have a flaw. So do not thou impose upon us a task to which we are unable; for our hands cannot avail to drill this jewel. However, our Shaykh[FN400] is more experienced than we.' Asked ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 9 • Richard F. Burton

... the official masters of the ceremonies, and put out all their preparations for an ovation. The arrival had been planned to be by sea, and by sea it must be, or everything would be spoilt. So the poor Duchesse was taken quietly by a roundabout road to the old wet dock, where she was put on board, and after a slight detour, she arrived in approved nautical fashion, and disembarked at the foot of the Cannebiere ...
— Memoirs • Prince De Joinville

... finding expression in the one act, he struck the brute full in his grinning face. The blow sent the glazed hat one way and the cue another, and tore the glove and skin from the master's hand from knuckle to joint. It opened up the corners of the fellow's mouth, and spoilt the peculiar shape of his beard for some time ...
— Selected Stories • Bret Harte

... This incident had spoilt the afternoon. The people were terrified of these two horrible curses, the two maladies which nothing could cure, and which were the precursors of an awful and lonely death. They hung about the barricades, ...
— The Scarlet Pimpernel • Baroness Orczy

... landlord's son, little daughter, and it is our duty to treat him with attention," answered the captain. "I have not found his manner un-courteous, though, being an only son, he possibly is spoilt a little ...
— Washed Ashore - The Tower of Stormount Bay • W.H.G. Kingston

... out, buttons were sewn on, and ribbons got ready. One dress, Tanya's, which the English governess had undertaken, cost Darya Alexandrovna much loss of temper. The English governess in altering it had made the seams in the wrong place, had taken up the sleeves too much, and altogether spoilt the dress. It was so narrow on Tanya's shoulders that it was quite painful to look at her. But Marya Philimonovna had the happy thought of putting in gussets, and adding a little shoulder-cape. The dress was set right, but there was nearly a quarrel with the English ...
— Anna Karenina • Leo Tolstoy

... rage, that he might display his horsemanship, his fine figure and dazzling costume before the queen and her ladies. It was all bien gorriere a voir. "Born between two adoring women," says Michelet, "Francis was all his life a spoilt child." Money flowed through his hands like water[102] to gratify his ambition, his passions and his pleasures. Doubtless his interviews with Da Vinci at Amboise, where he spent much of his time in the early ...
— The Story of Paris • Thomas Okey

... the Brigadier, sitting on the rock high above all. 'That regiment has spoilt the whole show. Hurry up the others, and let the ...
— Soldier Stories • Rudyard Kipling

... reason, narrowed into a sort of sharp spear, of which the spear blade was Newman. It did forget many of the other forces that were fighting on its side. But the movement could boast, first and last, many men who had this eager dogmatic quality: Keble, who spoilt a poem in order to recognise a doctrine; Faber, who told the rich, almost with taunts, that God sent the poor as eagles to strip them; Froude, who with Newman announced his return in the arrogant motto of Achilles. But the ...
— The Victorian Age in Literature • G. K. Chesterton

... understand that you cannot spoil an enlargement on account of defective mounting, you will work more confidently. After you have tried three times to remount, and the paper still insists in not sticking, you must take a new strainer, as too many wettings will have spoilt the cloth and wood. Sometimes there seems to be a difference in the stretching qualities of the enlargement and cloth, which makes it impossible to produce a perfect cohesion. When, therefore, it has been remounted three times and does not come out perfect, your best course ...
— Crayon Portraiture • Jerome A. Barhydt

... out of it when they were in it. Often have I been sitting at dinner with him at the "Hotel de la Paix" and one of his police would come in and say, "A young officer is at the 'Godbert,' sir. He's had too much to drink, and is behaving very badly." Maude would curse loudly at his dinner being spoilt, but would always leave at once, and would calm down whatever young firebrand it was, find out where he had to go, and have him seen off by lorry or train to his destination. All this meant much more trouble for Maude ...
— An Onlooker in France 1917-1919 • William Orpen

... person present was Timothy Halloran, who hovered about Mary O'Dwyer's tea-table. He was what the country people call a 'spoilt priest.' Destined by simple and pious parents to take Holy Orders, he got as far as the inside of Maynooth College. While there he had kicked a fellow-student down the whole length of a long corridor for telling ...
— Hyacinth - 1906 • George A. Birmingham

... spoilt. It's a curse to be a lady when you have to earn your living. It's not really been so hard, I suppose; I've been selling things, and living about twice as well as ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy

... a straw about their merit or demerit," said Mr. Galbraith; "poetry is nothing but spoilt prose. What I want to know is, whether they do not suggest a reason for your want of success with Jenny. Do you know ...
— Sir Gibbie • George MacDonald

... ceased to suffer, and confined himself to the peevish murmurs of a spoilt beauty or a child that has been scolded. But now no one takes him seriously. He has become the delight of the ward; he laughs so heartily when the dressing is over, he is naturally so gay and playful, that I am rather at a loss ...
— The New Book Of Martyrs • Georges Duhamel

... walked up and down the path as good as gold. Then Ada saw a frog hop away over the grass. She forgot her mother's command, and ran after it. The grass was slippery; she fell, and her clean frock was all smeared and spoilt by muddy streaks. Her mother came out and was very vexed. "Now, Ada, you will have to stay at home. I can't take you in a dirty frock. It will serve you right for being so disobedient." Ada cried and sobbed, and said she was sorry, and begged to be taken. But her mother said no. Then Nellie, ...
— 'Me and Nobbles' • Amy Le Feuvre

... virtuous helpmates; she knew that if she had a rival, that rival would not subsist for two hours under a word of reproof from herself; but she shut her eyes, she stopped her ears, she would know nothing of her husband's proceedings outside his home. In short, she treated her Hector as a mother treats a spoilt child. ...
— Poor Relations • Honore de Balzac

... expressly enunciated by the Bauddhas where they say, 'On account of the manifestation (of effects) not without previous destruction (of the cause).' For, they say, from the decomposed seed only the young plant springs, spoilt milk only turns into curds, and the lump of clay has ceased to be a lump when it becomes a jar. If effects did spring from the unchanged causes, all effects would originate from all causes at once, as then no specification would ...
— The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Sankaracarya - Sacred Books of the East, Volume 1 • George Thibaut

... comfort to you to know it, I too am wretched; now it is too late: I know that my life is spoilt also." ...
— Vera Nevill - Poor Wisdom's Chance • Mrs. H. Lovett Cameron

... had given my veiled warning; it never occurred to me that Mrs. Lascelles might be indulging in a veiled retort. I thought she was annoyed at the hint that I had given her. I began to repent of that myself. It had quite spoilt our day, and so many and long were the silences, as we wandered from little shop to little shop, and finally with relief to the train, that I had plenty of time to remember how much we had found to talk about all ...
— No Hero • E.W. Hornung

... Salisbury said," cried Leslie, turning back. "You see, I saw her after school—went back for my history—and I was to tell you that, Polly; only Sarah spoilt it all." ...
— Five Little Peppers at School • Margaret Sidney

... poets, and the day they first began to breed in Whitbury! Such an evening spoilt! Have a cup of coffee? No? then ...
— Two Years Ago, Volume II. • Charles Kingsley

... patronizing, was not ungenial, as Lucy had feared it would be, from his harsh opinions, quoted by Stella, in regard to the poor. All the rest of the family she had already seen, Edwin being the only son who had survived, and on that account, probably, a good deal spoilt. ...
— Lucy Raymond - Or, The Children's Watchword • Agnes Maule Machar

... face flushed with the pride of a spoilt child, who has undergone what it conceives to be an insult. "By the face of God!" he said, "Waldemar Fitzurse, much hast thou taken upon thee! and over malapert thou wert to cause trumpet to blow, or banner to be raised, in a town where ourselves ...
— Ivanhoe - A Romance • Walter Scott

... hurled at Anna made me start back. What could it mean, I wondered. I felt sorry for Khlopov, for Marusya, for Anna, and for the holiday mood that had been spoilt by a single word. And it seemed to me it was my fault to some extent. Who, I thought, had anything in common with Zhidovka if not myself? ...
— In Those Days - The Story of an Old Man • Jehudah Steinberg

... tiresome. The effort spoilt her temper, and no one seemed to notice any change. She might as well be bad as good were there no one present to perceive the difference. She gave it up, and, from that moment found that she suffered Barbara less gladly than before. Meanwhile, in Barbara also strange ...
— The Golden Scarecrow • Hugh Walpole

... (1450- 1466), was perhaps of all the Italians of the fifteenth century the man most after the heart of his age. Never was the triumph of genius and individual power more brilliantly displayed than in him; and those who would P.et recognize his merit were at least forced to wonder at him as the spoilt child of fortune. The Milanese claimed it openly as an honour to be governed by so distinguished a master; when he entered the city the thronging populace bore him on horseback into the cathedral, without ...
— The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy • Jacob Burckhardt

... have done that. But somehow, mamma, I have vexed Jass about it several times. I shouldn't like her to think I had "spoilt" your first evening, by beginning about the Harpers. That's what ...
— Robin Redbreast - A Story for Girls • Mary Louisa Molesworth

... wait much longer for her to make up her mind—great queen and dear cousin though she might be. It was neither just nor generous that he should be kept hanging on in a condition of mortifying uncertainty, with the risk of his whole life being spoilt, after it was too late to guard against it, by a final refusal on her part. That the Queen had in substance made up her mind is proved by the circumstance that it was by her wish, and in accordance with her written ...
— Life of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen V.1. • Sarah Tytler

... number of funny things,' says the lady. 'I have been at some people's christenings, and turned away from other folks' doors. I have seen some people spoilt by good fortune, and others, as I hope, improved by hardship. I advise you to stay at the town where the coach stops for the night. Stay there and study, and remember your old friend to whom you ...
— The Rose and the Ring • William Makepeace Thackeray

... Adriatic is seen. It is an active modern town, upon the site of the ancient Teate Marrucinorum (q.v.), with woollen and cotton manufactories and other smaller industries. The origin of the see of Chieti dates from the 4th century, S. Justinus being the first bishop. The cathedral has been spoilt by restoration, and the decoration of the exterior is incomplete; the Gothic campanile of 1335 is, however, fine. The cathedral possesses two illuminated missals. Close by is the town hall, which contains a small picture gallery, in which, ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 2 - "Chicago, University of" to "Chiton" • Various

... important thing. You'd make a success of marriage because of that and because you're adaptable and quick at picking up. Most women when they're married forget that their job is to adapt themselves and to please. That's their job. They expect to be kowtowed to and spoilt and humoured and to be free to spend money without having to earn it, and to do nothing in return except just exist—and perhaps manage a household, pretty badly. They seem to forget that there are two sides to a bargain. It's dashed hard work, pleasing ...
— When Winter Comes to Main Street • Grant Martin Overton

... upon her. At last they pull'd her out, and carried her unto the Sea-side, there to drown, her; but she calling upon God, they left her, tho' not without Expressions of their Fury. From that very time, this poor Whetford was utterly spoilt, and grew a Tempted, Froward, Crazed sort of a Woman; a vexation to her self, and all about her; and many ways unreasonable. In this Distraction she lay, till those women were Apprehended, by the Authority; then she began ...
— The Wonders of the Invisible World • Cotton Mather

... But he's a good-looking boy, and the girls have spoilt him a little. He has an idea ...
— The Master Mummer • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... process of interlocution. The scene is the green, sunny garden of Eden, that to which the memory of humanity reverts as to its dim golden age, and which ever expresses the bright dream of our youth, ere the rigor of misfortune or the dulness of experience has spoilt it. The dramatis personae are three individuals, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent. There are the mysterious tree, with its wonderful fruit,—the beautiful, but inquisitive woman,—the thoughtful, but too compliant man,—and the insinuating reptile. One speaks, the ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. IV, No. 22, Aug., 1859 • Various

... a young lady who has been spoilt. I think probably you are rich, and have had a good deal of your own way in this world. In fact, I take it for granted that you have never met any one who frankly told you your faults. Even if such good fortune had been yours, I doubt if ...
— One Day's Courtship - The Heralds Of Fame • Robert Barr

... done killed his father," said Abel Baragar, with dry emphasis. "Phenie Tyson was extravagant—wanted this and that, and nothin' was too good for her. Abner spoilt his life gettin' her what she wanted; and it broke ...
— Northern Lights • Gilbert Parker

... the Cathedral at Lucca, which are illustrated, are now in the Picture Gallery. They were made by Leonardo Marti, of Lucca. When in 1620 the choir was spoilt (they thought that they were making grand improvements) they were moved to the church of the Riformati of S. Cerbone, being badly mutilated to adapt them to their new position. There, in two centuries of neglect they became in such a state that the brothers thought them no ...
— Intarsia and Marquetry • F. Hamilton Jackson

... them would have spoilt our pleasure!" replied the King. "We will take them by surprise! We have heard of certain countries, whose villages and towns have never seen the reigning sovereign,—and though we have been but three years on the throne, we have resolved that no corner ...
— Temporal Power • Marie Corelli

... spoilt its Sabbath!" cried the girl, and she was so excited that the book which had been lying upon her lap fell to ...
— Stories by Foreign Authors: German (V.2) • Various

... she was in love with Joseph Fleming," remarked Lady Engleton. "I hoped at one time that he cared for her, but that Irish friend of Marion's, Katie O'Halloran, came on the scene and spoilt my little romance." ...
— The Daughters of Danaus • Mona Caird

... thin blue fume rising from it, it is hot enough. That is the sign. If you do not look closely it may escape your notice, for it is only a thin fume you want, not a thick smoke. If we were to let the fat remain till it smoked it would be spoilt." ...
— Little Folks (October 1884) - A Magazine for the Young • Various

... please," begged Judith, "do let me stay—couldn't that small boy by the door be coaxed to stay with me for company—I couldn't bear to have Nancy's party spoilt." ...
— Judy of York Hill • Ethel Hume Patterson Bennett

... the dressmaker's despair, in her draping her shoulders in a lace scarf and wearing kid gloves to her elbow; but though these pruderies might have spoilt her appearance at Dungemarsh Court, there was no doubt as to its effectiveness at the Woolpack. The whole room held its breath as she sailed in, with a rustle of amber silk skirts. Her hair was piled high against a tortoise-shell comb, ...
— Joanna Godden • Sheila Kaye-Smith

... fellow in his way,' said Herbert, button-holing his own waistcoat; 'but he's spoilt by two bad traits. In the first place, he's so dreadfully conscious of the fact that he has risen from a lower position; and then, again, he's so engrossingly and pervadingly mathematical. X square seems to have seized upon him bodily, and to ...
— Philistia • Grant Allen

... small glass dome to the greenhouse here where the palm-trees are, and (if you approved) there could be no difficulty in getting this done; the palm-trees are beautiful, and will be quite stunted and spoilt if not allowed to grow. We shall stay here till Monday next. With Albert's love, ...
— The Letters of Queen Victoria, Vol 2 (of 3), 1844-1853 • Queen Victoria

... water being evolved at the same time." On most carefully making the experiment with a sample of native blue (the variety referred to) we did not succeed in effecting this change: no alteration to red or even to purple took place, the only result being that the colour was entirely spoilt, having assumed a leaden slate-gray hue. At our request, the trial was kindly repeated by well-known chemists, who took every precaution to ensure success. Several specimens of ultramarine were acted upon, but in no case was a red or anything like ...
— Field's Chromatography - or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists • George Field

... might be; and Mrs. Flaxman gave him a lightly touched account. A young man of wealth and family, it seemed, but spoilt from his earliest days, and left fatherless at nineteen, with only an adoring but quite ineffectual mother to take account of. Some notorious love affairs at home and abroad; a wild practical joke or ...
— The Case of Richard Meynell • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... future, that spread desolation desolately. This was merely a review article—a thing that in England would have been unreadable; the narrative of a nomad of some genius. I could never have written like that—I should have spoilt it somehow. It set me tingling with desire, with the desire that transcends the sexual; the desire for the fine phrase, for the right word—for all the other intangibles. And I had been wasting all this time; had been writing ...
— The Inheritors • Joseph Conrad

... thoroughly she enjoyed that visit, with an eager delight. 'Everyone was so kind', she says, 'so flattering, far, far too flattering. They all seemed to have some pretty thing to say to me. I have felt a little spoilt ever since. However, I am going to try what a little more flattery will do for me, so Mr. Hungerford and I hope to accept, next Spring, a second invitation from the same friend, who wants us to go to a large ball she is going ...
— Mrs. Hungerford - Notable Women Authors of the Day • Helen C. Black

... game is spoilt before it is begun. Within the circle of the family, owing to our creed of insatiable love, intense adult sympathies are provoked in quite young children. In Italy, the Italian stimulates adult sex-consciousness and sex-sympathy in his child, almost ...
— Fantasia of the Unconscious • D. H. Lawrence

... "And to be spoilt too, don't forget that," cried Evelyn, laughingly shaking back her ringlets. "And now, before you go, will you tell me, as you are so wise, what I can do to make—to ...
— Alice, or The Mysteries, Book I • Edward Bulwer Lytton

... his style by the grossest buffooneries: "Take care, my little Popa! my little ass! Go on slowly: the times are slippery: this year is dangerous: if them fallest, they will exclaim, See! how our little Pope is spoilt!" It was fortunate for the cause of the Reformation that the violence of Luther was softened in a considerable degree by the meek Melancthon, who often poured honey on the sting inflicted by the angry wasp. Luther was no respecter ...
— Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of 3) • Isaac D'Israeli

... boat. They are to be returned without being exchanged, agreeably to what I suggested, and I shall send in a flag of truce the first favourable weather. We were so comfortably anchored the last fortnight, and so agreeably employed, that it has nearly spoilt me for the remainder of the cruise. Of the promotion nothing further is said, and I have not heard when I am to be released. If I am kept out much longer, and have the duty of an admiral without my flag, ...
— Memoirs and Correspondence of Admiral Lord de Saumarez, Vol. I • Sir John Ross

... to have your beauty spoilt, Charley,' Mr. Hardy said, as he bandaged up his son's face. 'A few more fights, and you will be as seasoned with scars as ...
— Out on the Pampas - The Young Settlers • G. A. Henty

... sake of my bibi!" said Mrs. Creighton. "It is the prettiest little hat I have had these three years; it would be distressing to have it spoilt before it ...
— Elinor Wyllys - Vol. I • Susan Fenimore Cooper

... sort. You seized on the individual and put her into type—a very different thing. Do you imagine that life will ever be the same to that poor woman again? I never liked Miss Craven, but she was harmless, even nice, before you got hold of her and spoilt her, by making her think herself clever. Isn't ...
— Audrey Craven • May Sinclair

... night, and are just getting to Bethune, the place we went to two days after Christmas, where we were quite near the guns, and went over the Cl. H. which had been shelled. Expect to take wounded up here. The country is wetter than ever—it looks one vast swamp. Of course the rain has spoilt our lovely paint! ...
— Diary of a Nursing Sister on the Western Front, 1914-1915 • Anonymous

... I had nearly spoilt all by an exclamation, but I held myself back. I saw she was dreaming awake and was unconscious of what ...
— The Ninth Vibration And Other Stories • L. Adams Beck

... not absolutely guide the pencil with his own hand, directs it by his advice. If a princess attempt a piece of embroidery in colours, of that description which ranks amongst the productions of the arts, a skilful embroideress is employed to undo and repair whatever has been spoilt. If the princess be a musician, there are no ears that will discover when she is out of tune; at least there is no tongue that will tell her so. This imperfection in the accomplishments of the great is but a slight misfortune. It is sufficiently meritorious in them to engage in ...
— Marguerite de Navarre - Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois Queen of Navarre • Marguerite de Navarre

... death. It was the correct thing in pagan society to make pilgrimages to this place in spring: a pleasant afternoon in a cemetery was a pastime as popular then as it appears to be to-day. The cachet of Na Morani had been rather spoilt by the erection of a little church some time in the ninth century, perhaps by Wenceslaus himself. Anyway, the pious prince found this church a convenient half-way house between Vy[vs]ehrad and Hrad[vs]any, and he was wont to put up ...
— From a Terrace in Prague • Lieut.-Col. B. Granville Baker

... higher circles, a Ruffian is one of the many mushroom-productions which the sun of prosperity brings to life. Stout in general is his appearance, but Dame Nature has done little for him, and Fortune has spoilt even that little. To resemble his groom and his coachman is his highest ambition. He is a perfect horseman, a perfect whip, but takes care never to be a perfect gentleman. His principal accomplishments are sporting, swaggering, milling, drawing, and greeking.{1} He takes the ribands in his hands, ...
— Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II. • Pierce Egan

... say, this north wind was a treat; especially coming, as it did, after a week of light airs and calms that had spoilt most of the yacht-racing. Some time in the afternoon I heard talk that our skipper—well, I won't mention names—and, as it turned out in the end, everyone was implicated. Anyhow, at six o'clock or thereabouts the gig was ordered out, and every blessed ...
— News from the Duchy • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... puberty is a critical age because it means the dawn of womanhood. It is critical in both sexes, not only for the body but also for the mind. It is now that the intellect awakes; it is now that the real formation of character begins. We often talk about spoilt children at three or four, but any kind of making or marring of character at such ages can be undone in a few weeks or less—that is, in so far as it is an effect of training and not of nature that we are dealing ...
— Woman and Womanhood - A Search for Principles • C. W. Saleeby

... clay-stained working blouse. Cleek looked at the huge unnatural thing—out of drawing, anatomically wrong in many particulars—and felt like quoting Angelo's famous remark anent his master Lorenzo's faun: "What a pity to have spoilt so much expensive material," and Van Nant, observing, waved ...
— Cleek: the Man of the Forty Faces • Thomas W. Hanshew

... spoilt my credit," continued the Doctor; "and there, I don't want to see a lot of blow-flies with lights in their tails; so, once for all, ...
— Trapped by Malays - A Tale of Bayonet and Kris • George Manville Fenn

... day time and very humid, so that it is extremely difficult to preserve anything. Stitches rot in leather and the soles of boots fall off, guns and rifles have to be oiled carefully every day and cigars are completely spoilt in a few hours unless kept in tin boxes. Can one wonder therefore that the human system soon breaks down in this vapour bath and that sickness is very common in this part. There is not much game to be seen from the river ...
— A Journal of a Tour in the Congo Free State • Marcus Dorman

... sowed. Speak, spoke, spoken. spake, Speed, sped, sped. Spell, spelt, spelt, spelled, spelled. Spend, spent, spent. Spill, spilt, spilt, spilled, spilled. Spin, spun, spun. span, Spit, spit, spit, spat, spitten. Split, split, split. Spoil, spoilt, spoilt, spoiled, spoiled. Spread, spread, spread. Spring, sprang, sprung. sprung, Stand, stood, stood. Stave, stove, stove, staved, staved. Stay, staid, staid, stayed, stayed. Steal, stole, stolen. Stick, ...
— Higher Lessons in English • Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg

... Twelve years ago the fishing was unrivalled, especially on the Kootenay River. Very large bags could be got, though the fish were not quite as large as in the Thompson. But it is unfortunately true that since this district became a mining centre the fishing has been largely spoilt. Professional fishermen have fished for the market, sawmills have been allowed to empty their sawdust into the rivers, and probably alien miners and others have massacred wholesale with dynamite. In the coast district, of which Vancouver is the ...
— Fishing in British Columbia - With a Chapter on Tuna Fishing at Santa Catalina • Thomas Wilson Lambert

... very little on the subject of his own feelings; such men are not given to talk of themselves, but the tone of his voice was eloquent, and Ralph winced before it. It was a new experience for the spoilt son and heir to hear any accents but those of love and appreciation from a member of his own family, and the experience was unexpectedly bitter. Who could have believed that the Governor would cut up so rough—could deliver himself of such sledge-hammer ...
— A College Girl • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

... called Padaians, and they practise the following customs:—whenever any of their tribe falls ill, whether it be a woman or a man, if a man then the men who are his nearest associates put him to death, saying that he is wasting away with the disease and his flesh is being spoilt for them: 89 and meanwhile he denies stoutly and says that he is not ill, but they do not agree with him; and after they have killed him they feast upon his flesh: but if it be a woman who falls ill, the women who are her greatest intimates do ...
— The History Of Herodotus - Volume 1(of 2) • Herodotus

... having a bit of play, three weeks since, marched us all away to Bow Street, and shut the place up. I don't know what he is down here for, but you may be sure that it's for no good to some of you. We owe him a heavy one ourselves. He came spying on us dressed up as a swell and spoilt our game, and got the darbies put on us, and we have sworn ...
— Colonel Thorndyke's Secret • G. A. Henty

... see that the view is in a measure spoilt by the growth of the city. A few years ago, none of those ugly little houses stood in the mid-distance. A few years hence, I fear, there will be much more to complain of. I daresay you know all about the ship-canal: the story of the ...
— Born in Exile • George Gissing

... that disreputable Europeans and natives occasionally became intoxicated, but here was my first experience of a respectable person committing such a lapse. The shock was so painful that my enjoyment was completely spoilt. I crept to a thicket, from which I could see without being seen, and observed the old gentleman's antics with amazed horror. He insisted on making a long speech, interspersed with snatches of song. This only came to an end ...
— Reminiscences of a South African Pioneer • W. C. Scully

... we said before, seeing the son thus deformed and spoilt in character for want of teaching, exhorted him to study, and to use all his entreaties to persuade Plato, the first of philosophers, to visit him in Sicily, and; when he came, to submit himself to his direction and advice: by whose instructions ...
— Plutarch's Lives • A.H. Clough

... no signs of being spoilt, for she only entreated to be allowed "just to put the tea-things in order," and then, winking very hard, she said ...
— The Clever Woman of the Family • Charlotte M. Yonge

... frankly plump and fair and florid like her mother; her face would have been pretty if her father's nose hadn't stepped in and struggled with her mother's and so spoilt it for her. ...
— The Belfry • May Sinclair

... for it. Some one present made an allusion to a similar childish dislike in the true tale of "The terrible knitters o' Dent" given in Southey's "Common-place Book:" and she smiled faintly, but said that the mere difference in food was not all: that the food itself was spoilt by the dirty carelessness of the cook, so that she and her sisters disliked their meals exceedingly; and she named her relief and gladness when the doctor condemned the meat, and spoke of having seen him spit it out. These are all the details I ever heard from her. She so avoided particularizing, ...
— The Life of Charlotte Bronte - Volume 1 • Elizabeth Gaskell

... wish for every girl who is growing up to womanhood that it might be brought home to her by some refined and ethically-minded member of her own sex how insufferable a person woman becomes when, like a spoilt child, she exploits the indulgence of man; when she proclaims that it is his duty to serve her and to share with her his power and possessions; when she makes an outcry when he refuses to part with what ...
— The Unexpurgated Case Against Woman Suffrage • Almroth E. Wright

... allowed. I had aroused a passion which I could not control. I was afraid that Mme. Dauvray's whole life—it seems absurd to those who did not know her, but those who did will understand—yes, her whole life and happiness would be spoilt if she discovered that what she believed ...
— At the Villa Rose • A. E. W. Mason

... it somewhere," said the King, whose morning was in danger of being quite spoilt by this new suggestion; "I'd ask the Chancellor to look it up, only he's ...
— Once on a Time • A. A. Milne

... professors might point to a belief in Magic as one of the first sources of Religion, it was easy in reply to say that this obviously had nothing to do with Christianity! The Secularists, too, rather spoilt their case by assuming, in their wrath against the Church, that all priests since the beginning of the world have been frauds and charlatans, and that all the rites of religion were merely devil's ...
— Pagan & Christian Creeds - Their Origin and Meaning • Edward Carpenter

... victory is a more severe moral test than the hour of defeat. Many a man can brave the perils of adversity who succumbs to the seductions of prosperity. He can stand the cold better than the heat! He is enriched by failure, but "spoilt by success." To test the real quality of a man, let us regard him just when he has slain Goliath! "David ...
— My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year • John Henry Jowett

... seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is totally absent. Those who care for the delicately poised balance of classical taste, for wit and brilliance of dialogue, will be disconcerted by childishness or fierce passion. It is an abrupt literature, but spontaneous and sincere, which has not been spoilt by formalism and scepticism, but which has not acquired, from a purely technical point of view, the perfection of the French. Having remained inarticulate during the two centuries of classical education, it has lost nothing ...
— Belgium - From the Roman Invasion to the Present Day • Emile Cammaerts

... and lots of people have already gone to Europe. They are having this one on purpose for us, because Octavia said she wanted to see some young men and girls, and how they amuse themselves. The girls have a perfectly emancipated and glorious time, and are petted and spoilt to a degree. They don't come much to the ladies' lunches, but they have girls' lunches of their own, and their own motor cars and horses, or whatever else they want, and do not have to ask their ...
— Elizabeth Visits America • Elinor Glyn

... I declare I wish that dog had never been born! Losing him has just spoilt Ben. Not a bit of fun left in him, and he won't have any thing I offer ...
— Under the Lilacs • Louisa May Alcott

... high, the moon revealed to Stephen Fearwell that tears of indignation were welling in Mrs. Tribe's eyes; and then thinking of Miss Mallowcoid, and of how this one holiday in the year, away from the hard spinster's cold tyranny, was being spoilt for her by these evening debates, he rose smartly to his feet, clapped the Incandescent Gerald on the back, and ...
— Too Old for Dolls - A Novel • Anthony Mario Ludovici

... since he had been barely fourteen years old, when a beautiful Neapolitan princess heard him sing and threw her magnificent arms round his neck, kissing him, and laughing when he kissed her in return; and she had made him the spoilt darling of her villa at Posilippo for ...
— Stradella • F(rancis) Marion Crawford

... an outline of the paper, which was interesting from its associations, and only spoilt by the cough. We had had Bunyan in pretty well every shape possible during the last few weeks. Certainly one of the most original is this which presents the man of unbounded faith in the ...
— Mystic London: - or, Phases of occult life in the metropolis • Charles Maurice Davies

... October 1666 Louis XIV remonstrated with him with much tact, begging him to try to make himself more and more capable in the service of his king by cultivating the talents with which he was endowed, and ridding himself of the faults which spoilt his conduct. 'I do not doubt,' he concludes, 'that you will be all the more grateful to me for this mark of my benevolence towards you, when you reflect how few kings have ever shown their goodwill in a ...
— CELEBRATED CRIMES, COMPLETE - THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK • ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE

... freedom and friendship and communion of soul. But Cyrus, though a wise general, never troubled himself about the education of his family. He was a soldier from his youth upward, and left his children who were born in the purple to be educated by women, who humoured and spoilt them. 'A rare education, truly!' Yes, such an education as princesses who had recently grown rich might be expected to give them in a country where the men were solely occupied with warlike pursuits. 'Likely enough.' Their father had possessions ...
— Laws • Plato

... said. "I suppose that's fair. I couldn't tell Mr. Mifflin, anyway. I'd be ashamed to tell him how you frightened me. I think you're hateful. I came over here thinking I was going to have such a good time, and you've spoilt it all!" ...
— The Haunted Bookshop • Christopher Morley

... must excuse me, but I decline to understand what you are talking about. The fact is, you have been spoilt by your success. ...
— The Sea-Gull • Anton Checkov

... find how entirely she trusted him. He brimmed with deep feeling as he replied in a steady voice, the steadiness of which was spoilt by the palpableness of his great effort to keep ...
— Far from the Madding Crowd • Thomas Hardy

... you "Harry," when she makes you fetch and carry - O young men about to marry, what a blessed thing it is! To be photograph'd—together—cased in pretty Russia leather - Hear her gravely doubting whether they have spoilt your honest phiz! ...
— Fly Leaves • C. S. Calverley

... Viceroy, and on one occasion she gave practical effect to her views. Her ladyship was one evening going for an airing, and Captain——, an A.-D.-C., who was a great favourite in society, and had possibly been a little spoilt, was ordered to be in attendance. He sauntered delicately and leisurely along to take his seat in the carriage wearing a forage cap. The moment Lady Mayo saw him she very politely informed him that when an aide-de-camp attended ...
— Recollections of Calcutta for over Half a Century • Montague Massey

... certainly felt uncomfortable, for I knew Fillet intended to sting. But my sense of martyrdom carried me through. I gathered my dignity about me and knocked heavily on the door. Annoyed that my hand had trembled and spoilt the effect, I opened the door briskly and shut it briskly. With a calm step and fearless look, both studied, for I copied Doe in these matters, I walked towards Carpet Slippers. The little man was pretending he had forgotten ...
— Tell England - A Study in a Generation • Ernest Raymond

... sobbed the little girl, slightly softening her wrath: "but the cat has unravelled all the stocking I have been knitting at for so many days, and I had nearly just finished it, and now it's all spoilt;" and she roared with vexation. "Miss Hermione, if you go on so I shall certainly send for your Mamma, and the baby will be quite poorly, he will! and we shall know who made him so," added Nurse triumphantly. "I can't ...
— The Fairy Godmothers and Other Tales • Mrs. Alfred Gatty

... had protested, and taken a positive stand, to which his wife had so far yielded as to permit that they be placed on the top shelf of the bedroom closet; averring that to have them laying around was a thing that she would not do, for they spoilt the ...
— At Fault • Kate Chopin

... push and to the people that Dorothy give me a letter to, and I'm going to do it. Lucius will look out for the whole thing. You should see the way the waiters tend. I reckon Lucius has told 'em we're made of money. I'm afraid we're getting spoilt, Muzz. It would be pretty tough to go back to the hotel now, ...
— Money Magic - A Novel • Hamlin Garland

... when the Lady Hermione first came to England, and was a very frequent visitor at her godfather's, who was much amused by her childish sallies, and by the wild and natural beauty with which she sung the airs of her native country. Spoilt she was on all hands; by the indulgence of her godfather, the absent habits and indifference of her father, and the deference of all around to her caprices, as a beauty and as an heiress. But though, from these circumstances, the city-beauty had become as wilful, as capricious, ...
— The Fortunes of Nigel • Sir Walter Scott

... up the window. This window was in the long passage, or gallery, as my lady gave out orders to have it called, in the gallery leading to my master's bedchamber and hers. And when I went up with the slate, the door having no lock, and the bolt spoilt, was a-jar after Mrs. Jane, and as I was busy with the window, I heard ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. IV • Maria Edgeworth

... her the invitation, and asked her advice. She was in the seventh heaven of delight; had me answer it at once, accept the invitation with pleasure and a lot of stuff that I never used before—she had been young once herself. I used up five or six sheets of paper in writing the answer, spoilt one after another, and the one I did send was a flat failure compared to the one I received. Well, the next evening when it was time to start, I was nervous and uneasy. It was nearly dark when I reached the house, but I wanted ...
— The Log of a Cowboy - A Narrative of the Old Trail Days • Andy Adams

... Now, what's this? Just when It ought to cry, the child stops crying. I'll show you! Here comes the bogie-man! Cry, cry, you spoilt one! (Throws it on the ground; the child screams.) That's ...
— Boris Godunov - A Drama in Verse • Alexander Pushkin

... with rich brown hair hanging free in natural ringlets. A lovely girl, with a free, frank face, and most wonderful eyes—so large, so soft, so bright, and set to perfection in her kind, good face. She was round, and fresh, and dimpled, and spoilt, most charmingly timid, most bewitchingly self-willed. She was the daughter of Mr. Meagles, and married Henry Gowan.—C. Dickens, Little ...
— Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama - A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook, Vol. 3 • E. Cobham Brewer

... again into darkness. True, there are some business men who perceive behind their business a goal, an ideal, in which there is something more than their own personal wealth and glory, the be-diamonding of a fat wife, and the expensive upbringing of a spoilt family. They make their wealth, but they seek to make it justly, to make it cleanly, and, having amassed their fortune, strive to benefit the lot of those by whose labour they amassed it, and whose future, and the future ...
— Over the Fireside with Silent Friends • Richard King

... "son's" breakfast. When this was over, the Mukonderi, another dancing-tune, with instruments something like clarionets, was ordered; but it had scarcely been struck up, before a drenching rain, with strong wind, set in and spoilt the music, though not the playing—for none dared stop without an order; and the queen, instead of taking pity, laughed most boisterously over the exercise of her savage power as the unfortunate musicians were nearly beaten down by the violence ...
— The Discovery of the Source of the Nile • John Hanning Speke



Words linked to "Spoilt" :   ill-natured, destroyed, spoiled, stale



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