boil

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   (of a liquid) To become hot enough to bubble and turn into vapour.

   Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.

2. 2
   verb

   To cook food in very hot bubbling water.

   I boil the eggs for exactly six minutes.

3. 3
   verb

   To feel very angry.

   She boiled with rage when she heard the news.

4. 4
   noun

   The point at which a liquid begins to boil.

   Add the pasta when the water comes to the boil.

Common collocations

• boil water Verb + noun
• boil off Verb + adverb
• boil over Verb + adverb

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.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images