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Loot vs Spoils - What's the difference?

loot | spoils | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between loot and spoils

is that loot is a kind of scoop or ladle, chiefly used to remove the scum from brine-pans in saltworks while spoils is that which is taken from another by violence; especially, the plunder taken from an enemy; pillage; booty.

As verbs the difference between loot and spoils

is that loot is to steal, especially as part of war, riot or other group violence while spoils is third-person singular of spoil.

loot

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) loet, loete .

Alternative forms

*

Noun

(en noun)
  • A kind of scoop or ladle, chiefly used to remove the scum from brine-pans in saltworks.

    • Etymology 2

    Attested 1788, a loan from Hindustani . The verb is from 1842. Fallows (1885) records both the noun and the verb as "Recent. Anglo-Indian". In origin only applicable to plundering in warfare. A figurative meaning developed in American English in the 1920s, resulting in a generalized meaning by the 1950s

    Noun

    (-)
  • The act of plundering.
    • the loot of an ancient city
  • plunder, booty, especially from a ransacked city.
  • (colloquial, US) any prize or profit received for free, especially Christmas presents
  • *1956 "Free Loot for Children" (LIFE Magazine, 23 April 1956, p. 131)
  • (video games) Items dropped from defeated enemies in video games and online games.
    • Synonyms
    * swag
    Related terms
    * contraband * plunder

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to steal, especially as part of war, riot or other group violence.
  • *1833 "Gunganarian, the leader of the Chooars, continues his system of looting and murder", The asiatic Journal and monthly register for British India and its Dependencies Black, Parbury & Allen, p. 66.
  • (video games) to examine the corpse of a fallen enemy for loot.

    • Anagrams

    * *

    References

    *Samuel Fallows, The progressive dictionary of the English language: a supplementary wordbook to all leading dictionaries of the United States and Great Britain (1885). English terms derived from Hindi English terms derived from Urdu ----

    spoils

    English

    Noun

    (en-plural noun)
  • That which is taken from another by violence; especially, the plunder taken from an enemy; pillage; booty.
    • "Gentle gales, Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole Those balmy spoils." —Milton.
  • Public offices and their benefits regarded as the peculiar property of a successful party or faction, to be bestowed for its own advantage; -- commonly in the plural; as
    • to the victor belong the spoils

    Verb

    (head)
  • (spoil)
    • Milk spoils when left out too long.