Spoil sb rotten In english explanation

The meaning, explanation, definition and origin of the idiom/phrase "spoil sb rotten", English Idiom Dictionary ( also found in Vietnamese )

author Tommy Tran calendar 2021-02-02 08:02

Meaning of Spoil sb rotten

Synonyms:

wait on hand and foot , wrapped in cotton wool

Spoil sb rotten informal verb phrase

To indulge someone too much, especially a child, making them demanding and think they will get everything they want.

It's understandable that grandparents indulge their grandchildren too much and somehow spoil them rotten.

Jack is a demanding person since his mother is always giving him what he wants. I guess she has spoiled him rotten.

Other phrases about:

throw salt on someone’s game

To interfere somebosy's plan or bussiness

Queer somebody's pitch/Queer the pitch (for somebody)

Spoil or undermine someone's plans or chances

pock (something) with (something else)

To spoil something with something else

taint (something) with (something)

1. To contaminate something with toxic substances.

2. To spoil, damage, or degrade anything positive by the presence or introduction of something awful, sad, or terribly unpleasant.

crum up

To spoil or ruin something; to mess something up

Grammar and Usage of Spoil sb rotten

Verb Forms

  • spoils sb rotten
  • spoiled sb rotten
  • spoilt sb rotten

The verb "spoil" should be conjugated according to its tense.

Origin of Spoil sb rotten

The spoils of war. (Image Source: Geomap)

The phrase originated from the older sense of the word spoil in English, meaning to strip the armor and weapons from a slain enemy. From here, the word came to mean the items that were removed, booty or plunder, hence our word spoils, as in phrases such as “the spoils of war”. It then took on a literal meaning of depriving someone's quality or distinction, and later still to impair or damage something to the extent that it became useless. By the end of the 17th century, the word spoil meant to overindulge, hence we have the phrase as we know it nowadays.

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to look like a drowned rat

To be very wet

Example:

Because of forgetting bringing an umbrella, I look like a drowned rat when it rains.

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