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boil

Pronunciation: /bɔɪ(ə)l/

The English word “boil” has 17 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A localized accumulation of pus in the skin, resulting from infection.
  2. The point at which fluid begins to change to a vapour; the boiling point.
  3. An instance of boiling.
  4. A dish of boiled food, especially seafood.
  5. A social event at which people gather to boil and eat food, especially seafood. (Compare a bake or clambake.)
  6. A group of hawks.
  7. A bubbling.

verb

  1. To heat to the point where it begins to turn into a gas.
  2. To cook in boiling water.
  3. To begin to turn into a gas, seethe.
  4. To bring to a boil, to heat so as to cause the contents to boil.
  5. To be uncomfortably hot.
  6. To feel uncomfortably hot.
  7. To form, or separate, by boiling or evaporation.
  8. To steep or soak in warm water.
  9. To be agitated like boiling water; to bubble; to effervesce.
  10. To be moved or excited with passion; to be hot or fervid.

Etymology

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.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.