spoil (spoil) v. spoiled or spoilt (spoilt), spoil·ing, spoils v. tr.
spoil forTo be eager for: spoiling for a fight. [Middle English spoilen, to plunder, from Old French espoillier, from Latin spoliāre, from spolium, booty.] |
spoil for
Be eager for, as in He's just spoiling for a fight. This idiom nearly always refers to some kind of altercation. It may allude to spoil in the sense of "deteriorate over a period of time." [Mid-1800s]