boiling

[ boi-ling ]

adjective

1. having reached the boiling point; steaming or bubbling up under the action of heat:

   boiling water.

2. fiercely churning or swirling:

   the boiling seas.

3. (of anger, rage, etc.) intense; fierce; heated.

adverb

1. to an extreme extent; very:

   August is usually boiling hot; boiling mad.

boiling

/ ˈbɔɪlɪŋ /

adjective

1. very warm

   a boiling hot day

noun

1. the whole boiling slang.
   the whole boiling the whole lot

Other Words From

• boiling·ly adverb
• half-boiling adjective
• non·boiling adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of boiling¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English; boil ¹ + -ing ²

Example Sentences

Wipe any excess food off your tongs, cutting board, and knife, then dunk them in the boiling water for a minute or two to sterilize them.

From Outside Online

Considering the many of uses that fire provides, from water boiling, to heating, lighting, and cooking, it makes sense to carry multiple fire starting methods in your kit, but even these can be inadequate in cold, wet, and windy weather.

From Popular-Science

It increasingly feels like America is reaching a boiling point, more raging bonfire than flash in the pan.

From Ozy

Workers and wildlife rescuers couldn’t immediately approach the site — it was 400 degrees underground, and if the earth exploded or gave way, they might be scalded or drown in boiling fluids.

From ProPublica

It’s a movement that has had its roots over multiple decades and reached a boiling point because of an extradition bill last year.

From Digiday

He first rose to prominence as a lawyer in Queens, who settled a boiling racial dispute over public housing in Forest Hills.

From The Daily Beast

This is important in the concentration process, which takes place by means of an extraordinarily measured period of boiling.

From The Daily Beast

Ground glass is put in food to cause internal bleeding, and nicotine concentrated by boiling can cause a heart attack.

From The Daily Beast

As infants, my kids ate food right off the floor without washing or boiling.

From The Daily Beast

Mr. Wynd said the shrinking process includes filling the head with hot sand and boiling it with herbs.

From The Daily Beast

The camp grew still, except for the rough and ready cook pottering about the fire, boiling buffalo-meat and mixing biscuit-dough.

From Project Gutenberg

The color does not disappear upon boiling, which excludes diacetic acid.

From Project Gutenberg

She was boiling mullets over a few red coals in the huge fireplace.

From Project Gutenberg

Starch is insoluble in cold water, but by boiling, it dissolves, forming a thick paste.

From Project Gutenberg

It dissolves readily in cold water, and is converted into sugar by long continued boiling with acids.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• baking
• fiery
• scalding
• scorching
• sizzling