boil
/bɔɪ(ə)l/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.83 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A dish of boiled food, especially seafood.
noun
A social event at which people gather to boil and eat food, especially seafood. (Compare a bake or clambake.)
American usage
Example Sentences
- "Add the noodles when the water comes to the boil."
- "Surface water will do, but give it a good boil before drinking it."
- "a down-home boil with plenty of crab"
- "This is Brad's classic shrimp boil—a recipe he makes for every tailgate party. Brad demands, “Don't use utensils!” INGREDIENTS: Two 6-ounce boxes Old Bay crab/shrimp boil seasoning[…]"
- "CRAWFISH BOIL EN GELÉE (TERRINE OF CRAWFISH) […] For a typical Louisiana shrimp boil, use the recipe for Crawfish Boil (page 28), substituting shrimp for the crawfish […]"
- "a down-home boil at the town hall"
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /bɔɪ(ə)l/
- British English: /bɔɪ(ə)l/
Usage
- American usage
- Archaic
- Transitive verb
- Intransitive verb
- New Zealand usage
- British usage
- Informal
- Obsolete
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Food.