boil - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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.

boil (plural boils)

  1. A localized accumulation of pus in the skin, resulting from infection.
    Synonyms: abscess, carbuncle, cyst, furuncle, pimple, pustule

accumulation of pus

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.

boil (plural boils)

  1. The point at which fluid begins to change to a vapour; the boiling point.
    Add the noodles when the water comes to the boil.
  2. An instance of boiling.
    Surface water will do, but give it a good boil before drinking it.
  3. A dish of boiled food, especially seafood.
    a down-home boil with plenty of crab
    • 2007 January 30, Angela Skinner, Race Day Grub: Recipes from the NASCAR Family, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 65:
      This is Brad's classic shrimp boil—a recipe he makes for every tailgate party. Brad demands, “Don't use utensils!” INGREDIENTS: Two 6-ounce boxes Old Bay crab/shrimp boil seasoning […]
    • 2009 September 29, John Besh, My New Orleans: The Cookbook, Andrews McMeel Publishing, →ISBN, pages 28, 30, 123:
      CRAWFISH BOIL EN GELÉE (TERRINE OF CRAWFISH) […] For a typical Louisiana shrimp boil, use the recipe for Crawfish Boil (page 28), substituting shrimp for the crawfish […]
  4. (rare, nonstandard) The collective noun for a group of hawks.
  5. (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.
    • 1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous:
      The sea round them clouded and darkened, and then frizzed up in showers of tiny silver fish, and over a space of five or six acres the cod began to leap like trout in May; while behind the cod three or four broad gray-backs broke the water into boils.

point at which fluid begins to change to a vapour

boil (third-person singular simple present boils, present participle boiling, simple past and past participle boiled or (nonstandard, regional) boilt)

  1. (transitive, of liquids) To heat to the point where it begins to turn into a gas.
    Synonyms: seethe, well, (UK, dialectal, dated, uncommon) plaw; see also Thesaurus:cook
    Antonym: condense
    Boil some water in a pan.
  2. (ambitransitive) To cook in boiling water.
    Boil the eggs for three minutes.
    Is the rice boiling yet?
  3. (intransitive, of liquids) To begin to turn into a gas, seethe.
    Pure water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.
  4. (transitive, UK, New Zealand, informal) To bring to a boil, to heat so as to cause the contents to boil.
  5. (intransitive, informal, used only in progressive tenses, of weather) To be uncomfortably hot.
    Synonyms: be baking, be scorching, be sweltering
    Antonym: be freezing
    It’s boiling outside!
  6. (intransitive, informal, used only in progressive tenses) To feel uncomfortably hot.
    Synonyms: be seething, be baking, be stewing
    Antonym: be freezing
    I’m boiling in here – could you open the window?
  7. (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.
  8. (obsolete) To steep or soak in warm water.
    • 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:
      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.
  9. (intransitive, of liquids) To be agitated like boiling water; to bubble; to effervesce.
    the boiling waves of the sea
  10. To be moved or excited with passion; to be hot or fervid.
    His blood boils with anger.

(transitive) heat (a liquid) until it begins to turn into a gas

cook in boiling water

(intransitive) begin to turn into a gas