Spare the rod and spoil the child - This means that if you don't discipline children, they will become spoilt.
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Spoil the ship for a ha'pworth of tar - (UK) If someone spoils the ship for a ha'pworth (halfpenny's worth) of tar, they spoil something completely by trying to make a small economy.
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Too many cooks spoil the broth - This means that where there are too many people trying to do something, they make a mess of it.
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In literature:
The youngest child always gets spoiled.
"A Little Girl in Old Boston" by Amanda Millie Douglas
And, "Anything on earth that you would do to that dress, Mrs. Worthington, would spoil it," said Miss Rosa, warmly.
"The Heart of Arethusa" by Francis Barton Fox
O Gad, you are quite spoiled.
"The Comedies of William Congreve Volume 1 [of 2]" by William Congreve
One's taste is spoiled by what he hears.
"Folkways" by William Graham Sumner
Mrs. Lamb was very angry when she saw that the peony was spoiled; and she took Kate by the arm, and shook her.
"Proud and Lazy" by Oliver Optic
We are hardly ever conscious of the moisture except when it falls as rain or snow and spoils our plans.
"Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 10" by Charles Herbert Sylvester
But meanwhile everything might be spoiled.
"Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1907 to 1908" by Lucy Maud Montgomery
The name spoiled her for him, just as the Jameson mouth spoiled her son for him.
"Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1909 to 1922" by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Such treatment will mar, if not spoil, the attractiveness of it.
"Amateur Gardencraft" by Eben E. Rexford
It's the hemigrants that spoil this country.
"The Kangaroo Marines" by R. W. Campbell
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In poetry:
Shall we not take the ebb who had the flow?
Life was our friend. Now, if it be our foe -
Dear, though it spoil and break us!--need we care
What is to come?
"What Is To Come" by William Ernest Henley
Oh the toil we lost and the spoil we lost
And the excellent things we planned
Belong to the woman who didn't know why
(And now we know that she never knew why)
And did not understand!
"The Vampire" by Rudyard Kipling
The champions had come from their fields of war,
Over the crests of the billows far,
They had brought back the spoils of a hundred shores,
Where the deep had foam'd to their flashing oars.
"The Sicilian Captive" by Felicia Dorothea Hemans
Yes, that's what I've come for, as all of us come;
When I meet the dear Boys I could wish I were dumb.
You asked me, you know, but it's spoiling the fun;
I have told what I came for; my ditty is done.
"What I Have Come For" by Oliver Wendell Holmes
Christ has th' usurping tyrant Death o'erthrown —
Christ's death has spoil'd, and made his arms his own —
Christ has devour'd the ghastly-visag'd king —
Christ has bereav'd Him of his pointed sting.
"Christ Is All In All" by Rees Prichard
She saw their birthright's warrior-crown
Of olden glory spoil'd,
The standard of their sires borne down,
The shield's bright blazon soil'd:
She met the tempest meekly brave,
Then turn'd o'erwearied to the grave.
"The Queen Of Prussia's Tomb" by Felicia Dorothea Hemans
In news:
Grinch spoils serviceman 's return.
Grandma and Grandpa have always spoiled you.
Poor shrimping season won't spoil Beaufort Shrimp Festival.
Spoiling for a fight.
Silent bats spoiling Detroit's championship bid: World Series Insider.
They felt that The Post spoiled the surprise.
How to keep an open bottle of wine from spoiling , other tips.
All across this great land people love to spoil their pets.
I spoiled Santa for a classmate in third grade and have felt guilty about it ever since.
I was 8 the first—and only—time I spoiled Santa for a believer.
How often did kids spoil Santa for their classmates.
Are Too Many Cooks Spoiling the Broth in Libya.
Could Third Party Candidates Spoil the Obama, Romney Path to 270.
Drake's early exit shouldn't spoil brilliant season.
It's what most people have wanted to see since the first week of the season against Davenport Central, but it would be easy to get spoiled by a running game that continues to churn out yardage and touchdowns.
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In science:
In this case, the equivalence transformations which do not spoil the ansatz give exactly the general coordinate, U (1) and Weyl transformations.
Point particle in general background fields and generalized equivalence principle
One might think that the gauge dependence of the renormalization constants could spoil the above derivation of Eq. (14).
General Covariance in Quantum Gravity
Electromagnetic mass models are subcases, often spoiled by negative pressure.
Static charged perfect fluid spheres in general relativity
We need operators to be marginal in order not to spoil the conformal properties of the field theory.
Marginal Deformations of N=4 SYM and of its Supersymmetric Orbifold Descendants
In this case, the noise of the position sensor should be low enough, in order not to spoil the sensitivity of the antenna.
Feasibility of a magnetic suspension for second generation Gravitational Wave interferometers
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