[f. BOIL v. + -ING1.]
1. 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.
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. 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. Jordan, 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. Eliza Acton, Cookery, vii. (1852), 153. The advantages of gentle simmering over the usual fast boiling of meat.
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. 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.
