boil
English
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /bɔɪl/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈbɔɪ.əl/
Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -ɔɪl
Etymology 1
From Middle English bile, büle (“boil, tumor”), from Old English bȳl, bȳle (“boil, swelling”), from Proto-Germanic *būlijō, *būlō (“boil”). Akin to Dutch buil (“boil, swelling”), German Beule (“boil, hump”), Icelandic beyla (“swelling, hump”). The expected form is bile; the rounding of the diphthong could be caused by the initial b- and/or by association with etymology 2.
Noun
boil (plural boils)
- A localized accumulation of pus in the skin, resulting from infection.
Synonyms
- abscess
- carbuncle
- cyst
- furuncle
- pimple
- pustule
Derived terms
- Aleppo boil
- Biskara boil
- blind boil
- Natal boil
- sand boil
- tar boil
Translations
accumulation of pus
|
Further reading
Boil on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Etymology 2
From Middle English boillen, from Old French boillir (French: bouillir) from Latin bullīre, present active infinitive of bulliō (“I bubble, boil”), from bulla (“bubble”). Displaced native Old English weallan (intransitive) and wiellan (transitive). More at wall, well.
Noun
boil (plural boils)
- The point at which fluid begins to change to a vapour.
- Add the noodles when the water comes to the boil.
- A dish of boiled food, especially based on seafood.
- (rare, nonstandard) The collective noun for a group of hawks.
- (Scotland, archaic) A bubbling.
- 1828, James Hogg, Mary Burnet
- He swam to the place where Mary disappeared but there was neither boil nor gurgle on the water, nor even a bell of departing breath, to mark the place where his beloved had sunk.
- 1828, James Hogg, Mary Burnet
Derived terms
Terms derived from boil (noun)
- Beaufort boil
- boil order
- bring to a boil
- come to a boil
- crab boil
- Delhi boil
- go off the boil
- low country boil
- off the boil
- on the boil
- rolling boil
- sand boil (geology)
- seafood boil
- tar boil
Translations
point at which fluid begins to change to a vapour
|
collective noun for hawks
|
Verb
boil (third-person singular simple present boils, present participle boiling, simple past and past participle boiled)
- (transitive, of liquids) To heat to the point where it begins to turn into a gas.
- Boil some water in a pan.
- (transitive, intransitive) To cook in boiling water.
- Boil the eggs for three minutes.
- Is the rice boiling yet?
- 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 606515358, [Act IV, scene i], page 143, column 2:
- Toad, that vnder cold ſtone, / Dayes and Nights ha's thirty one: / Sweltred Venom ſleeping got, / Boyle thou firſt i'th'charmed pot.
- (intransitive, of liquids) To begin to turn into a gas, seethe.
- Pure water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.
- (transitive, UK, informal) To bring to a boil, to heat so as to cause the contents to boil.
- 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, London: Heinemann, OCLC 59891543, page 20-21:
- I'll boil the kettle.
-
- (intransitive, informal, used only in progressive tenses, of weather) To be uncomfortably hot.
- It’s boiling outside!
- (intransitive, informal, used only in progressive tenses) To feel uncomfortably hot.
- I’m boiling in here – could you open the window?
- (transitive) To form, or separate, by boiling or evaporation.
- to boil sugar or salt
- 2016, Alex Groner, American Heritage History of American Business:
- 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.
- (obsolete) To steep or soak in warm water.
- 1631, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], OCLC 1044372886:
- 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.
-
- To be agitated like boiling water; to bubble; to effervesce.
- the boiling waves of the sea
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Job 12:31:
- He maketh the deep to boil like a pot.
- To be moved or excited with passion; to be hot or fervid.
- His blood boils with anger.
- 1557 July 1, Virgil, “The Second Boke of Virgiles Aenæis”, in Henry [Howard, Earl] of Surrey, transl.; William Bolland, editor, Certain Bokes of Virgiles Aenaeis, Turned into English Meter ([Roxburghe Club Publications; I]), London: […] A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1814, OCLC 940064673:
- Then boyld my breſt with flame and burning wrath, / To reuenge my town vnto ſuch ruine brought.
Synonyms
- (of a liquid): seethe, well, plaw (UK, dialectal, dated, uncommon); see also Thesaurus:cook
- (of the weather): be baking, be scorching, be sweltering
- (of a person): be seething, be baking, be stewing
Antonyms
- (of a liquid): condense
- (of the weather): be freezing
- (of a person): be freezing
Derived terms
Terms derived from boil (verb)
- blood-boiling
- boil away
- boil down
- boil down to
- boiled dinner
- boiled dressing
- boiled shirt
- boiled sweet
- boil-in-bag
- boiling plate
- boiling tube
- boil-in-the-bag
- boil off
- boil over
- boil someone's piss
- boil the ocean
- boil up
- boil-wash
- boil wash
- bunny-boiling
- double boil
- drunk as a boiled owl
- eat boiled crow
- go and boil your head
- hard-boil
- hard-boiled
- keep the pot boiling
- make someone's blood boil
- parboil
- pot boiler
- slow boil
- soft-boiled
- stone boiling
Related terms
- ebullient
Translations
heat (a liquid) until it begins to turn into a gas
|
cook in boiling water
|
begin to turn into a gas
|
colloquial: of the weather, to be uncomfortably hot
|
colloquial: of a person, to be uncomfortably hot
|
See also
- bake
- condense
- freeze
- fry
- grill
- poach
- steam
Further reading
- Boiling on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams
- bilo, biol, biol., boli, lobi