boil

boil
boil1
/boyl/, v.i.
1. to change from a liquid to a gaseous state, producing bubbles of gas that rise to the surface of the liquid, agitating it as they rise.
2. to reach or be brought to the boiling point: When the water boils, add the meat and cabbage.
3. to be in an agitated or violent state: The sea boiled in the storm.
4. to be deeply stirred or upset.
5. to contain, or be contained in, a liquid that boils: The kettle is boiling. The vegetables are boiling.
v.t.
6. to cause to boil or to bring to the boiling point: Boil two cups of water.
7. to cook (something) in boiling water: to boil eggs.
8. to separate (sugar, salt, etc.) from a solution containing it by boiling off the liquid.
9. boil down,
a. to reduce the quantity of by boiling off liquid.
b. to shorten; abridge.
c. to be simplifiable or summarizable as; lead to the conclusion that; point: It all boils down to a clear case of murder.
10. boil off, Textiles.
a. to degum (silk).
b. to remove (sizing, wax, impurities, or the like) from a fabric by subjecting it to a hot scouring solution. Also, boil out.
11. boil over,
a. to overflow while boiling or as if while boiling; burst forth; erupt.
b. to be unable to repress anger, excitement, etc.: Any mention of the incident makes her boil over.
n.
12. the act or an instance of boiling.
13. the state or condition of boiling: He brought a kettle of water to a boil.
14. an area of agitated, swirling, bubbling water, as part of a rapids.
15. Also called blow. Civ. Engin. an unwanted flow of water and solid matter into an excavation, due to excessive outside water pressure.
[1250-1300; ME boillen < AF, OF boillir < L bullire to bubble, effervesce, boil, v. deriv. of bulla bubble]
Syn. 3. foam, churn, froth. 4. rage. BOIL, SEETHE, SIMMER, STEW are used figuratively to refer to agitated states of emotion. To BOIL suggests the state of being very hot with anger or rage: Rage made his blood boil. To SEETHE is to be deeply stirred, violently agitated, or greatly excited: A mind seething with conflicting ideas. To SIMMER means to be on the point of bursting out or boiling over: to simmer with curiosity, with anger. To STEW is to worry, to be in a restless state of anxiety and excitement: to stew about (or over) one's troubles.
boil2
/boyl/, n. Pathol.
a painful, circumscribed inflammation of the skin or a hair follicle, having a dead, suppurating inner core: usually caused by a staphylococcal infection. Also called furuncle.
[bef. 1000; ME bile, bule, OE byle; c. G Beule boil, hump, akin to ON beyla hump, swelling]

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Inflamed pus-filled swelling due to staphylococcus skin infection at a hair follicle.

It is painful and feels hard. Boils usually occur in hairy areas exposed to friction and maceration. Scratching an existing skin disorder may introduce staphylococci on the skin into hair follicles and cause a boil to arise. A carbuncle occurs when several adjoining boils merge. Healing requires discharging the pus. Treatment involves antibiotics.

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▪ skin infection
also called  Furuncle, or Furunculosis,  

      a staphylococcus skin infection characterized by an inflamed nodular swelling filled with pus, located at the site of a hair follicle. The lesion is painful and feels hard to the touch; healing begins after the pus is discharged. Boils are usually located in hairy body areas exposed to friction and maceration, such as the back of the neck, the face, armpits, buttocks, and groin. A sty is a boil located at the base of an eyelash. A carbuncle is an aggregation of adjoining boils with several centers of pus collection.

      Existing skin disorders that lead to scratching may favour the entrance of the staphylococci into hair follicles, with resulting boil formation. Any general lowered state of health may also predispose individuals to furunculosis, although the condition also affects healthy people. Some individuals seem more susceptible to boils than others, and in them the boils tend to recur. Ordinarily treatment is unnecessary, other than the use of measures to keep the affected area clean and protected from further infection. In more severe cases, antibiotics are usually effective. When boils occur in a patient at a hospital in which penicillin-resistant staphylococcal infections are endemic, they may constitute a serious medical problem, particularly when the patients are aged or debilitated.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • boil — n *abscess, furuncle, carbuncle, pimple, pustule boil vb Boil, seethe, simmer, parboil, stew mean to prepare (as food) in a liquid heated to the point where it emits considerable steam. Boil implies the bubbling of the liquid and the rapid escape …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • Boil — Boil, v. t. 1. To heat to the boiling point, or so as to cause ebullition; as, to boil water. [1913 Webster] 2. To form, or separate, by boiling or evaporation; as, to boil sugar or salt. [1913 Webster] 3. To subject to the action of heat in a… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Boil — or furuncle is a skin disease caused by the infection of hair follicles, resulting in the localized accumulation of pus and dead tissue. Individual boils can cluster together and form an interconnected network of boils called carbuncles. In… …   Wikipedia

  • boil — boil; boil·er; boil·er·less; boil·ery; gar·boil; par·boil; re·boil; re·boil·er; boil·ing·ly; …   English syllables

  • boil — boil1 [boil] vi. [ME boilen < OFr boillir < L bullire < bulla, a bubble, knob; prob. < IE * bu , var. of echoic base * beu , * bheu , to blow up, cause to swell] 1. to bubble up and vaporize over direct heat 2. to reach the vaporizing …   English World dictionary

  • Boil — (boil), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Boiled} (boild); p. pr. & vb. n. {Boiling}.] [OE. boilen, OF. boilir, builir, F. bouillir, fr. L. bullire to be in a bubbling motion, from bulla bubble; akin to Gr. ?, Lith. bumbuls. Cf. {Bull} an edict, {Budge}, v.,… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Boil — Boil, n. [Influenced by boil, v. See {Beal}, {Bile}.] A hard, painful, inflamed tumor, which, on suppuration, discharges pus, mixed with blood, and discloses a small fibrous mass of dead tissue, called the core. [1913 Webster] {A blind boil}, one …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • boil — ‘large spot’ [OE] and boil ‘vaporize with heat’ [13] are distinct words. The former comes from Old English byl or byle, which became bile in Middle English; the change to boil started in the 15th century, perhaps from association with the verb.… …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • boil — Ⅰ. boil [1] ► VERB 1) (with reference to a liquid) reach or cause to reach the temperature at which it bubbles and turns to vapour. 2) (with reference to food) cook or be cooked by immersing in boiling water. 3) seethe like boiling liquid. 4)… …   English terms dictionary

  • boil — ‘large spot’ [OE] and boil ‘vaporize with heat’ [13] are distinct words. The former comes from Old English byl or byle, which became bile in Middle English; the change to boil started in the 15th century, perhaps from association with the verb.… …   Word origins

  • boil — [n] blister abscess, blain, blister, carbuncle, excrescence, furuncle, pimple, pustule, sore, tumor, ulcer; concept 309 boil [v1] heat to bubbling agitate, bubble, churn, coddle, cook, decoct, effervesce, evaporate, fizz, foam, froth, parboil,… …   New thesaurus

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