. Any one of various soils found in arid and semiarid regions, containing an unusual amount of soluble mineral salts which effloresce in the form of a powder or crust (usually white) in dry weather following rains or irrigation. The basis of these salts is mainly soda with a smaller amount of potash, and usually a little lime and magnesia. Two main classes of alkali are commonly distinguished: black alkali, which may be any alkaline carbonate, but which practically consists of sodium carbonate (sal soda), which is highly corrosive and destructive to vegetation; and white alkali, characterized by the presence of sodium sulphate (Glauber's salt), which is less injurious to vegetation. Black alkali is so called because water containing it dissolves humus, forming a dark-colored solution which, when it collects in puddles and evaporates, produces characteristic black spots. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. [ OF. assoiler, absoiler, assoldre, F. absoudre, L. absolvere. See Absolve. ] 1. To set free; to release. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Till from her hands the spright assoiled is. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To solve; to clear up. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Any child might soon be able to assoil this riddle. Bp. Jewel. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To set free from guilt; to absolve. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Acquitted and assoiled from the guilt. Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

Many persons think themselves fairly assoiled, because they are . . . not of scandalous lives. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To expiate; to atone for. [ Archaic ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let each act assoil a fault. E. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To remove; to put off. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

She soundly slept, and careful thoughts did quite assoil. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Pref. ad- + soil. ] To soil; to stain. [ Obs. or Poet. ] Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ne'er assoil my cobwebbed shield. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Act of assoiling, or state of being assoiled; absolution; acquittal. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A soiling; defilement. [ 1913 Webster ]

, v. t. [ Old form assoil&yogh_;e. See Assoil. ] (Scots Law) To absolve; to acquit by sentence of court. [ 1913 Webster ]

God assoilzie him for the sin of bloodshed. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Pertaining to, or advocating, the non-extension of slavery; -- esp. applied to a party which was active during the period 1846-1856. [ U.S. ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. Pertaining to territory where slavery was prohibited. [ U.S. ] [ wns=1 ]
Syn. -- slaveless. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

-- Free"soil`er n. [U.S.] -- Free"-soil`ism n. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Soiled p. pr. & vb. n. Soiling. ] [ OF. saoler, saouler, to satiate, F. soûler, L. satullare, fr. satullus, dim. of satur sated. See Satire. ] To feed, as cattle or horses, in the barn or an inclosure, with fresh grass or green food cut for them, instead of sending them out to pasture; hence (such food having the effect of purging them), to purge by feeding on green food; as, to soil a horse. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. soile, F. sol, fr. L. solum bottom, soil; but the word has probably been influenced in form by soil a miry place. Cf. Saloon, Soil a miry place, Sole of the foot. ] 1. The upper stratum of the earth; the mold, or that compound substance which furnishes nutriment to plants, or which is particularly adapted to support and nourish them. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Land; country. [ 1913 Webster ]

Must I thus leave thee, Paradise? thus leave
Thee, native soil? Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Dung; faeces; compost; manure; as, night soil. [ 1913 Webster ]

Improve land by dung and other sort of soils. Mortimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Soil pipe, a pipe or drain for carrying off night soil. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To enrich with soil or muck; to manure. [ 1913 Webster ]

Men . . . soil their ground, not that they love the dirt, but that they expect a crop. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. soil, souil, F. souille, from OF. soillier, F. souiller. See Soil to make dirty. ] A marshy or miry place to which a hunted boar resorts for refuge; hence, a wet place, stream, or tract of water, sought for by other game, as deer. [ 1913 Webster ]

As deer, being stuck, fly through many soils,
Yet still the shaft sticks fast. Marston. [ 1913 Webster ]

To take soil, to run into the mire or water; hence, to take refuge or shelter. [ 1913 Webster ]

O, sir, have you taken soil here? It is well a man may reach you after three hours' running. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t.[ OE. soilen, OF. soillier, F. souiller, (assumed) LL. suculare, fr. L. sucula a little pig, dim. of sus a swine. See Sow, n. ] 1. To make dirty or unclean on the surface; to foul; to dirty; to defile; as, to soil a garment with dust. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To stain or mar, as with infamy or disgrace; to tarnish; to sully. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To foul; dirt; dirty; begrime; bemire; bespatter; besmear; daub; bedaub; stain; tarnish; sully; defile; pollute. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To become soiled; as, light colors soil sooner than dark ones. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Soil to make dirty, Soil a miry place. ] That which soils or pollutes; a soiled place; spot; stain. [ 1913 Webster ]

A lady's honor . . . will not bear a soil. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Stain; foulness. [ R. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Destitute of soil or mold. [ 1913 Webster ]

. A pipe or drain for carrying off night soil. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ OF. soillure, F. souillure. See Soil to make dirty. ] Stain; pollution. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Then fearing rust or soilure, fashioned for it
A case of silk. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Dirty; soiled. [ Obs. ] Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The bed, or stratum, of earth which lies immediately beneath the surface soil. [ 1913 Webster ]

Subsoil plow, a plow having a share and standard but no moldboard. It follows in the furrow made by an ordinary plow, and loosens the soil to an additional depth without bringing it to the surface. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To turn up the subsoil of. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The upper layer of soil; surface soil. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Engin.) The act or art of taking off the top soil of land before an excavation or embankment is begun. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The soil beneath the surface; understratum; subsoil. [ 1913 Webster ]