(v. t.) 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.
(n.) 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.
(n.) Land; country.
(n.) Dung; faeces; compost; manure; as, night soil.
(v. t.) To enrich with soil or muck; to manure.
(n.) 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.
(n.) To make dirty or unclean on the surface; to foul; to dirty; to defile; as, to soil a garment with dust.
(n.) To stain or mar, as with infamy or disgrace; to tarnish; to sully.
(v. i.) To become soiled; as, light colors soil sooner than dark ones.
(n.) That which soils or pollutes; a soiled place; spot; stain.
Example Sentences:
(1) The disappearance of the herbicide, Avadex (40% diallate), from five agricultural soils (differing in either pH, carbon content, or nitrogen content), incubated under sterile and non-sterile conditions, was followed for a period of 20 weeks.
(2) The remaining 5 soil samples, obtained from sites that were not in close proximity to lakes, were also negative except for one that contained type B.
(3) One ejaculation followed by daily contact with soiled bedding taken from a male's cage did not increase pregnancy rates.
(4) Fourteen soil bacteriophages active against Rhizobium trifolii W19 have been studied which fall into four structural groups.
(5) Recoveries of these 3 herbicides added to soil, wheat, and barley samples at 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 ppm levels were between 65 and 93%.
(6) The hypothesis was tested that plaque, as a complex soil comprising microorganisms, cell debris, salivary deposits and other ill-defined organic and inorganic components, would be susceptible to removal by a rinse with high detersive action.
(7) While undoubtedly a good understanding of soil microbiology in terms of pedology exists, little is presently known about unsaturated subsoils, and aquifers.
(8) The behavior and effects of atmospheric emissions in soils and plants are discussed.
(9) The first stop in this arid place of poor farms and orchards clinging to the dry soil is Rafah, cut off by the border from its Palestinian counterpart.
(10) Although selenium deficiency in livestock is consequently now rare in Oregon, selenium-deficient soils and attendant selenium deficiency conditions have been reported near the Kesterson Wildlife Refuge in the Northern part of the San Joaquin Valley, California, where, paradoxically, selenium toxicity in wildfowl, nesting near evaporation ponds, occurred and attracted wide attention.
(11) It is now recognized that dwarfism in males is frequent around the Mediterranean, where wheat is the staple of life and has been grown for 4,000 years on the same soil, thereby resulting in the depletion of zinc.
(12) The influence of salt mixtures consisting of Ca(H2PO4)2, trace elements, CaSO4, CaCO3, Na2CO3, NaCl and K2SO4 in different combinations on the nitrifying power, evolution of carbon dioxide and the total number of bacteria was studied in arid soils (sandy and alluvial) and semi-humid ones (chernozem and rendzina).
(13) High concentrations of mercury, cadmium, and lead have also been observed in urban soils.
(14) Two long-term tillage studies on fine-textured, clay loam soils were sampled in July and November 1977 following 2 years of limited rainfall.
(15) Adult Persian lime trees grafted on Citrus macrophylla and C. volkameriana were used, planted on a groundwater-affected red ferrilytic soil in the La Habana Province.
(16) Recent reports incriminating Acanthamoeba, a small free-living amoeba, wide-spread in environmental soils and waters, in acanthamoebic keratitis cases wearing soft contact lenses, drew attention to cleaning solutions for contact lenses.
(17) An enzyme (nitrilase) that converts the herbicide bromoxynil (3,5-dibromo-4-hydroxybenzonitrile) to its metabolite 3,5-dibromo-4-hydroxybenzoic acid was shown to be plasmid encoded in the natural soil isolate Klebsiella ozaenae.
(18) Forty soil samples from different desert localities in Kuwait were surveyed for keratinophilic and geophilic dermatophytic fungi.
(19) The well drained soils of the Suiá--Missu forest are very uniform, deep latosols (oxisols) of very dystrophic nature with pH (in water) between 4.0 and 5.0 (see table 2, p. 203).
(20) To reduce the risks posed by the hazard, the report recommends that a management plan be created to determine the level of soil contamination and for managing excavated soil, and to decommission disused septic tanks to prevent the spread of contamination.
Topsoil
Definition:
(n.) The upper layer of soil; surface soil.
Example Sentences:
(1) Unwin directed As You Like It, which closes this weekend: he will then give away a tonne of topsoil from the set to a local school, resisting the temptation to set up in the neighbouring market place and sell it.
(2) For sometime, the use of machinery and chemical fertilizers has masked the loss of topsoil, but under recent increases in population pressures, soil conservation measures are gaining in importance.
(3) The vacant town, located within the Prohibited Zone created after the Fukushima nuclear leak in 2011 (which continues to spill toxic effluent into the Pacific Ocean), was asked to host a radioactive materials storage facility, for the bags of radioactive topsoil and debris that have been sitting in fields around the area for years.
(4) There were strong positive relationships between the number of larvae and pupae and total organic matter, indicating highest concentrations of immatures in nutrient-rich topsoil with an abundant supply of larval food.
(5) Tin mining typically requires land to be bulldozed, then hosed down and dug up, meaning that the fertile topsoil so essential for agriculture and plantations is lost, and acidic soil brought to the surface instead.
(6) Elevated PbB at each specific age was associated mainly with increased lead concentrations in the topsoil of the local residential area, employment of the father in the lead industry, parental smoking, and behaviors likely to cause ingestion of dirt.
(7) Officials promised to foot the bill for the removal of topsoil from outdoor play areas in the region where levels exceed the limit.
(8) On January 1, 1989 approximately 60% of the Chernobyl caesium was still in the top 0-2 cm of the topsoil.
(9) Down below at the bottom of the mine, workers are busy running gigantic machines to remove the topsoil and dig deep into a layer of brown coal, or lignite.
(10) Towns outside the evacuation zone have sprayed streets with water and removed topsoil from school playgrounds in an attempt to make their communities safe.
(11) They're greened over now, but the scars of its industrial past are everywhere - great chunks missing from the hillsides and places where the coal dust glitters through the topsoil still.
(12) Of 1,200 sq km of known mined areas, 800 sq km have been affected by flooding and topsoil movement, a diplomatic source told the Guardian.
(13) They reduce the wind that blows away topsoil, and they provide shade to livestock, who drop manure and urine.
(14) Less than 1% of bacterial colonies isolated from garden topsoil and greater than 80% of bacteria isolated from PCB-contaminated soils showed DNA homologies with 32P-labeled DNA probes.
(15) The influence of local variations in topography and microclimate on the observed radiocaesium levels in topsoils, lichens and vascular plants was studied in detail.
(16) It is only slightly volatile, is highly soluble in water, and is moderately persistent in topsoil, where it is strongly absorbed to organic carbon.
(17) Ignoring official assurances that the exposure limit and current radiation readings in the area posed no threat to children's health, parents and teachers in Otama and five other communities in Fukushima prefecture started removing and burying topsoil from school playgrounds.
(18) As people build on these hillsides they erode the topsoil, and the rain washes the sand and rubbish from the settlements into the nature reserve on the other side of the border.
(19) Experts say that while health risks can be lowered by measures including the removal of layers of topsoil, vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and children should avoid even minimal exposure.
(20) The steps produced immediate results: radiation readings in topsoil outside Ando's school dropped from 1.32 microsieverts to 0.25 microsieverts an hour, compared with a pre-disaster reading of 0.04 microsieverts.