boil
pronunciation
How to pronounce boil in British English:
UK [bɔɪl]
How to pronounce boil in American English:
US [bɔɪl]
-
- Noun:
- a painful sore with a hard pus-filled core
- the temperature at which a liquid boils at sea level
-
- Verb:
- come to the boiling point and change from a liquid to vapor
- cook in boiling liquid
- bring to, or maintain at, the boiling point
- be agitated
- be in an agitated emotional state
Word Origin
- boil
- boil: Boil ‘large spot’ [OE] and boil ‘vaporize with heat’ [13] are distinct words. The former comes from Old English byl or byle, which became bile in Middle English; the change to boil started in the 15th century, perhaps from association with the verb. The Old English word goes back ultimately to a West Germanic *būlja, whose central meaning element was ‘swelling’; from it also comes German beule ‘lump, boil’.The verb’s source, via Anglo-Norman boiller, is Latin bullīre, a derivative of bulla ‘bubble’, a word which also gave us bull (as in ‘Papal bull’), bullion, bowl (as in the game of ‘bowls’), budge, bullet, bulletin and bully (as in ‘bully beef’), as well, perhaps, as bill.=> bill, bowl, budge, bull, bullet, bulletin, bullion, bully, ebullient
- boil (v.)
- early 13c., from Old French bolir "boil, bubble up, ferment, gush" (12c., Modern French bouillir), from Latin bullire "to bubble, seethe," from PIE base *beu- "to swell" (see bull (n.2)). The native word is seethe. Figurative sense of "to agitate the feelings" is from 1640s.I am impatient, and my blood boyls high. [Thomas Otway, "Alcibiades," 1675] Related: Boiled; boiling. Boiling point is recorded from 1773.
- boil (n.)
- "hard tumor," altered from Middle English bile (Kentish bele), perhaps by association with the verb; from Old English byl, byle "boil, carbuncle," from West Germanic *buljon- "swelling" (cognates: Old Frisian bele, Old High German bulia, German Beule). Perhaps ultimately from PIE root *bhel- (2) "to swell" (see bole), or from *beu- "to grow, swell" (see bull (n.2); also compare boast (n.)). Compare Old Irish bolach "pustule," Gothic ufbauljan "to puff up," Icelandic beyla "hump."
Example
- 1. You should at least boil it or use a filter .
- 2. They boil wort for up to three hours .
- 3. Water in the core began to boil off , raising the temperature and pressure inside the massive steel containment vessel .
- 4. Add chicken broth to the pot . Bring to boil .
- 5. But one thing that seems to hold is that when the decline is widely looked for , it does not arrive -- a bit like a watched pot of water failing to boil .