soils

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of soil.

   The region's soils range from heavy clay to loose loam.

   Farmers test their soils each spring before planting.

   Note

   A plural that mostly counts kinds, not amounts. Earth in the ordinary sense is a mass noun, so soils usually means varieties: clay soils, sandy soils, the soils of a region. The countable senses of soil take the plural too. It can mean stains, or, in hunting, the miry places a hunted boar runs to for refuge. Do not confuse it with the verb form, which means 'makes dirty'.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of soil.

   Wet paint soils anything that brushes against it.

   The mechanic soils his hands with grease by the end of every shift.

   Note

   The verb shifts meaning with its construction. With an object it stains, literally or figuratively: paint soils a sleeve, and scandal soils a name. Without an object it means 'gets dirty', as when pale linen soils quickly. With a reflexive pronoun it is the restrained way of saying someone has accidentally defecated in their clothes, so choose the construction with care.

   White linen soils far more quickly than dark cotton.

   The patient sometimes soils himself during the night.

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