▪ I. boiling, vbl. n.
(ˈbɔɪlɪŋ)
[f. boil v. + -ing1.]
1. a. The action of bubbling up under the influence of heat; ebullition.
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 202 Þis boylyng wole after quenche. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vii. xxxvi. (1495) 251 The heete that makyth boyllynge and sethyng. 1552 Huloet, Bollynge or bubblynge vp of water. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 40 Evolved rapidly, with formation of bubbles, as in the ordinary process of boiling. |
b. With
down: the process of boiling or heating something to reduce its bulk or to liberate oil or the like. Also
attrib.| 1848 H. W. Haygarth Bush Life in Australia vi. 71 The process of ‘boiling down’, or converting the whole carcase into tallow. 1859 F. Fuller 5 Years' Resid. in N.Z. viii. 166 A boiling-down price for wethers would be reached in a few years. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 31 Jan. 8/1 A Grimsby fishing vessel..if properly equipped with boiling down works could gather the oil [from seals]. |
2. transf. and
fig. a. A bubbling like that of boiling water; disturbance, turmoil, raging.
b. Heating of the body or mind; violent agitation, inflammation, fever, etc.
| 1382 Wyclif Jonah i. 15 The se stode of his buylyng. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xcii. (1495) 660 Letuse kelyth hete and boyllynge of blood. 1580 Baret Alv. B 889 The boyling or risinge vp of water out of a spring. c 1660 J. Gibbon in Spurgeon Treas. David Ps. cxix. 9 A young man all in the heat and boiling of his blood. 1676 Hale Contempl. i. 214 Tortures and boylings of mind. 1882 Observatory V. 357 It [a comet] shows a turmoil or boiling of the light about the nucleus. |
3. a. The action of heating a liquid to boiling point; of subjecting (anything) to the action of a boiling liquid,
esp. so as to cook it; of making or obtaining some substance by this process.
| 1481–90 Howard Househ. Bks. (1841) 422 For the dressynge and boylyng of iij. saltes, ijs. 1631 E. Jorden Nat. Bathes ii. (1669) 13 The boyling of Beans. 1678 N. Wanley Wonders iii. xliii. §15. 224/1 The boyling and baking of Sugar as it is now used. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. xvi. 288, I set Friday to work to boiling and stewing. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. I. s.v. Goose, Give them fourteen or fifteen Boilings. 1845 E. Acton Cookery vii. (1852) 153 The advantages of gentle simmering over the usual fast boiling of meat. |
b. With
down: the process of condensing or abridging literary matter;
concr. a condensation or epitome. (See
boil v. 8.)
| 1898 Daily News 27 Jan. 8/4 The book is little more than a boiling-down of the vast literature on the subject. But the boiling-down is well done. |
4. That which is boiled or being boiled, a decoction; a quantity boiled at one time: hence
the whole boiling (slang): ‘the whole lot’.
| 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 113 Syrup, steepings, boylings, setlings or extract. 1837 Marryat Dog-Fiend xiii, [He] may..whip the whole boiling of us off to the Ingies. c 1842 E. J. Lance Cottage Farm. 13 This liquor is to be boiled until it is a thick syrrup; skim the boiling. |
5. Comb. and
attrib., as
boiling-like adj.:
boiling-furnace, a reverberatory furnace sometimes employed in the decarbonization of cast-iron;
boiling-house, a building for boiling (soap, sugar, etc.), a boilery;
boiling-heat,
-point,
-temperature, the temperature at which anything boils,
i.e. turns from the liquid to the gaseous state;
spec. the boiling-point of water (at the sea level 212° Fahr., 100°
Cent.);
fig. a high degree of excitement, indignation, etc.
| 1875 Ure Dict. Arts II. 1001 The construction of the ‘*boiling’ furnace does not materially differ from that of the ‘puddling’ furnace. |
| 1846 Punch IX. 206 The maids have subsided from *boiling-heat to simmering. |
| 1647 Haward Crown Rev. 30 The *Boyling house. Two Yeomen. 1712 Act 10 Anne in Lond. Gaz. No. 5012/2 All Soap, Oil, Tallow..in any private Boiling-house. |
| 1835–6 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. I. 629/1 The water..was thrown into a *boiling-like motion. |
| 1773 Horsley in Phil. Trans. LXIV. 227 M. de luc's *boiling point. 1807 Hutton Course Math. II. 243 At the freezing point is set the number 32, and..212 at the boiling point. 1870 Emerson Soc. & Solit. iv. 55 One man is brought to the boiling-point by the excitement of conversation. |
▸
boiling ring n. = ring n.1| 1894 Junior Army & Navy Stores Price List 1199 (caption) The ‘Gem’ Gas Stove, with oven and roaster, all cast iron... No. 1.—With 1 *Boiling Ring. 1951 Good Housek. Home Encycl. 203/1 The stove..is primarily designed as a boiling ring but it will also serve as a space heater. 1999 Sentinel (Stoke-on-Trent) (Nexis) 18 July 1 Five weeks ago all four boiling rings stopped operating and engineers have been unable to get the spare part needed to get it working again. |
▪ II. ˈboiling, ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ing2.] 1. a. Bubbling up under the influence of heat; at boiling temperature.
| c 1320 Seuyn Sag. 2460 A gret boiland cauderoun. 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. 1318 Full of brimstane, pick, and bulling leid. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. (1827) VIII. lxiv. 34 Cast headlong into the boiling water. 1832 Athenæum No. 219. 17 The cook with the boiling kettle in her hand. 1839 Thirlwall Greece III. 229 Two boiling sulphureous springs. |
b. Hyperbolically: extremely hot.
colloq.| 1930 R. Lehmann Note in Music 34 He was the sort of boy who would..declare on the coldest day that he was boiling. |
2. transf. Violently agitated, raging; fiercely hot; heaving with molecular disturbance.
| 1382 Wyclif Isa. lvii. 21 As the boilinge se, that resten mai not. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccxxii. 501 None coude abyde there, for it was all a quycke boylyng sande. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 443 Rocks the bellowing Voice of boiling Seas rebound. 1868 T. W. Webb Celest. Objects ii. (1873) 39 [The comet] is quite hazy, luminous in the centre, and boiling (atmospherically unsteady). |
3. fig. Inflamed, in a state of passionate agitation, bursting with passion, etc.
| 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 238/2 Mens desires are too much boyling. 1600 Holland Livy xxi. x. 398 A youth boyling in ambition. 1672 Dryden Conq. Granada ii. (1725) 44 My boiling Passions settle and go down. 1742 Young Nt. Th. viii. 1175 His understanding 'scapes the common cloud Of Fumes, arising from a boiling Breast. 1836 J. C. Young Mem. C. M. Young (1871) 236 She found him in a state of boiling indignation. 1878 Morley Diderot I. 319. |
4. quasi-adv., in phrase
boiling hot.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 312 Hogs grease and bran boiling hot. 1862 Enquire Within 83 It should be poured on boiling-hot. |