Edit page | Page history | Printable version

Boil

1. To heat to the boiling point, or so as to cause ebullition; as, to boil water.

2. To form, or separate, by boiling or evaporation; as, to boil sugar or salt.

3. To subject to the action of heat in a boiling liquid so as to produce some specific effect, as cooking, cleansing, etc.; as, to boil meat; to boil clothes. The stomach cook is for the hall, And boileth meate for them all. (Gower)

4. To steep or soak in warm water. To try whether seeds be old or new, the sense can not inform; but if you boil them in water, the new seeds will sprout sooner. (Bacon) to boil down, to reduce in bulk by boiling; as, to boil down sap or sirup.

1. To be agitated, or tumultuously moved, as a liquid by the generation and rising of bubbles of steam (or vapor), or of currents produced by heating it to the boiling point; to be in a state of ebullition; as, the water boils.

2. To be agitated like boiling water, by any other cause than heat; to bubble; to effervesce; as, the boiling waves. He maketh the deep to boil like a pot. (job xii. 31)

3. To pass from a liquid to an aeriform state or vapor when heated; as, the water boils away.

4. To be moved or excited with passion; to be eeb

hot or fervid; as, his blood boils with anger. Then boiled my breast with flame and burning wrath. (Surrey)

5. To be in boiling water, as in cooking; as, the potatoes are boiling. To boil away, to vaporize; to evaporate or be evaporated by the action of heat. To boil over, to run over the top of a vessel, as liquid when thrown into violent agitation by heat or other cause of effervescence; to be excited with ardor or passion so as to lose self-control.

Origin: oe. Boilen, OF. Boilir, builir, f. Bouillir, fr. L. Bullire to be in a bubbling motion, from bulla bubble; akin to gr, lith. Bumbuls. Cf. Bull an edict, Budge, v, and ebullition.

a hard, painful, inflamed tumour, which, on suppuration, discharges pus, mixed with blood, and discloses a small fibrous mass of dead tissue, called the core. A blind boil, one that suppurates imperfectly, or fails to come to a head.

(Science: medicine) Delhi boil, a peculiar affection of the skin, probably parasitic in origin, prevailing in india (as among the British troops) and especially at Delhi.

Origin: Influenced by boil, v. See beal, bile.