Forms: 4 Sc. brulȝe, broilye, 4–6 brule, 5 broille, brolyyn, broylyn, broyll, 5–6 broyle, bruyle, broile, 6 brooyle, 6–7 broyl, 6– broil. [Of uncertain origin and history: the form brule, which is not infrequent before 1500, appears to be the F. brûle-r to burn (in OF. also bruller); but it is very doubtful what relation this brule bears to the general form bruyle, broyle; they may be distinct words, or brule may be a conscious assimilation to the F. bruler. The form bruyle, and Sc. brulȝe, appear to be the OF. bruillir found in Godef. in the intrans. sense of ‘broil, burn’ (bruillir de soleil); bruyle would become broyle, broil.]
† 1. trans. To burn, to char with fire. Obs.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, IV. 151. Assalit Within with fyre, that thame sa brulȝeit. Ibid. (c. 1375) ? St. Georgis, 456. He gert brandis of fyre [til hyme] bynde, To brule it wes lewit behynde.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 53. Brolyyn or broylyn, ustulo, ustillo, torreo.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour (1868), 49. Ye shalle … be broiled and brent, and sinke in the pitte of helle.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 280/3. That he myght be brente and bruyled.
c. 1500. Partenay, 2289. Ther paynymes were bruled and brend entire.
a. 1533. Frith, Disput. Purgatory (1829), 115. He putteth them not away for broiling in purgatory.
1568. H. Charteris, Pref. Lyndesay’s Wks., iij b. To bruyle and scald quha sa euer suld speik aganis thame.
2. spec. To cook (meat) by placing it on the fire, or on a gridiron over it; to grill.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 383. He cowde roste, sethe, broille, and frie … and wel bake a pye.
1483. Cath. Angl., 45. Brule, assare.
1598. B. Jonson, Ev. Man Hum., I. iv. 12. The first red herring that was broyld in Adam and Eves kitchen.
1653. Walton, Angler, 57. Broil him [chub] upon wood-cole or char-cole.
1769. Mrs. Raffald, Eng. Housekpr. (1778), 71. To broil Mutton Steaks.
1835. W. Irving, Tour Prairies, 117. An evening banquet of venison … roasted, or broiled on the coals.
1853. Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.), 621. Our gridiron is only fit to broil small fish.
3. To scorch; to make very hot, to beat.
1634. Rainbow, Labour (1635), 18. Let not his hot pursuit broyle him in an Ægyptian furnace.
1718. Lady M. W. Montague, Lett., II. xlix. 64. I was … half broiled in the sun.
1818. Byron, Juan, I. lxiii. That … sun … will keep … broiling, burning on.
1858. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Jrnls., I. 268. We turned back, much broiled in the hot sun.
4. intr. To be subjected to great heat, to be very hot. (Mainly in to be broiling, for to be a-broiling.)
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., IV. i. 56. God saue you Sir, Where haue you bin broiling?. Among the crowd i’th’ Abbey.
1642. H. More, Song of Soul, II. iii. IV. xxxii. One of a multitude of myriads Shall not be sav’d but broyl in scorching wo?
1748. Smollett, Rod. Rand., vii. (1804), 34. Before your age I was broiling on the coast of Guinea.
1883. Leisure Ho., 148/1. Don’t keep us broiling here for ever!
b. intr. To grow hot; esp. fig. to become heated with excitement, anger, etc. ? Obs.
1561. T. Norton, trans. Calvin’s Inst., IV. xx. If they [Magistrates] must punish … let them not broile with unappeaseable rigor.
1627. P. Fletcher, Locusts, I. xxiv. Meantime (I burne, I broyle, I burst with spight).
1760. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, II. v. He broil’d with impatience.
1817. Byron, Beppo, lxix. Her female friends, with envy broiling, Beheld her airs and triumph.
c. Said of passion, emotion, etc.: To burn, glow, be ardent.
1600. Newe Metamorph. (N.). Love broyled so Within his brest.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 36, ¶ 2. The secret Occasion of Envy broiled long in the Breast of Autumn.
