night soil
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.
This strategy became necessary after an errant tomato plant sprouted from a visitor's night soil back in the 1960s.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 19, 2023
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
For days the family either walked to the fields or used the night soil buckets.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
