night soil
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of night soil
First recorded in 1765–75
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Often in exchange for a fee paid to each household, farmers collected what was called night soil at regular intervals to fashion into fertile compost.
From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2021
The problems of chamber pots — also known as “jerries, night soil, commodes, slop jars, close stools and thunder mugs” — also contributed to this noisome mix.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 4, 2016
They dumped their waste into brick-lined cesspits that would be emptied by the night soil men, who sold it as fertilizer or dumped it off Dung Pier into the Thames.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 15, 2014
The Japanese were sensitive to the handling of pathogens, and they knew how to compost the night soil before they used it on plants.
From Scientific American ● Apr. 5, 2013
We mischievously overturned the buckets of excrement reeking by the entrance gate awaiting pickup by the night soil men, who seldom came.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
