boil
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /bɔɪl/
ipa: /ˈbɔɪ.əl/
rhymes: -ɔɪl
Forms: form: boils
form: boiling
form: boiled
form: boiled
form: boilt
form: boilt
form: boyl
form: boyle
Etymology: From Middle English boillen, from Old French boillir (see French bouillir) from Latin bullīre (“to bubble, boil”), from bulla (“bubble”). Displaced native Old English weallan (intransitive) and wiellan (transitive). More at wall, well.
Senses: examples: text: Boil some water in a pan.
synonyms: word: seethe
word: well
word: plaw
word: cook
word: do
antonyms: condense
glosses: To heat to the point where it begins to turn into a gas.
raw_tags: of liquids
examples: text: Boil the eggs for three minutes.
text: Is the rice boiling yet?
text: Toad, that vnder cold ſtone, / Dayes and Nights ha's thirty one: / Sweltred Venom ſleeping got, / Boyle thou firſt i'th'charmed pot.
ref: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 143, column 2:
glosses: To cook in boiling water.
examples: text: Pure water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.
glosses: To begin to turn into a gas, seethe.
raw_tags: of liquids
examples: text: 'I'll boil the kettle,' he said.
ref: 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 14:
glosses: To bring to a boil, to heat so as to cause the contents to boil.
examples: text: It’s boiling outside!
synonyms: bake
scorch
swelter
antonyms: freeze
glosses: To be uncomfortably hot.
raw_tags: of weather
used only in progressive tenses
examples: text: I’m boiling in here – could you open the window?
synonyms: seethe
bake
stew
antonyms: freeze
glosses: To feel uncomfortably hot.
raw_tags: used only in progressive tenses
examples: text: to boil sugar or salt
text: Another leader in the packaged product business was the Procter & Gamble Company, formed in Cincinnati in 1837 by William Procter, who molded candles, and his brother-in-law, James Gamble, who boiled soap.
ref: 2016, Alex Groner, American Heritage History of American Business:
glosses: To form, or separate, by boiling or evaporation.
examples: text: To try whether seeds be old or new, the sense cannot inform; but if you boil them in water, the new seeds will sprout sooner.
ref: 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:
glosses: To steep or soak in warm water.
examples: text: the boiling waves of the sea
text: He maketh the deep to boil like a pot.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 12:31:
glosses: To be agitated like boiling water; to bubble; to effervesce.
raw_tags: of liquids
examples: text: His blood boils with anger.
text: Then boyld my breſt with flame and burning wrath, / To reuenge my town vnto ſuch ruine brought.
ref: 1557 July 1, Virgil, “The Second Boke of Virgiles Aenæis”, in Henry [Howard, Earl] of Surrey, transl., edited by William Bolland, Certain Bokes of Virgiles Aenaeis, Turned into English Meter ([Roxburghe Club Publications; I]), London: […] A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1814, →OCLC:
text: The city boiled with money. Rents and property values had never been higher, and in the garment industry it was widely held that fashion had never been so fashionable. New restaurants opened every hour.
ref: 2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 3:
glosses: To be moved or excited with passion; to be hot or fervid.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: aboil
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: beauty won't make the pot boil
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: blood-boiling
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boilability
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boilable
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boil away
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boildown
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boil down
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boil down to
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boiled dinner
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boiled dressing
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boiled shirt
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boiled sweet
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boiler
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boilie
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boil-in-bag
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boiling plate
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boiling tube
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boil-in-the-bag
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boil off
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boiloff
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boil over
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boil someone's piss
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boil the ocean
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boil up
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boil wash
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: boil-wash
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: bunny-boiling
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: double boil
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: drunk as a boiled owl
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: eat boiled crow
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: emboil
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: glue-boiler
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: go and boil your head
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: hard-boil
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: hard-boiled
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: high-boiling
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: I don't boil my cabbage twice
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: keep the pot boiling
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: low-boiling
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: make someone's blood boil
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: overboil
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: parboil
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: potboil
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: pot boiler
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: preboil
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: reboil
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: slow boil
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: soft-boiled
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: stone boiling
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: unboil
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: underboil
sense: Terms derived from boil (verb)
word: upboil
Related terms: ebullient
bake
condense
freeze
fry
grill
poach
steam