subs. phr. (artists’).—1. A piece of work done for money: i.e., TO BOIL THE POT (q.v.); also as adj. Hence, POT-BOILING, and TO POT-BOIL.
1870. Daily Telegraph, 10 Feb. Even those who buy pictures and art-objects merely out of vanity would prefer good work for their gold if they only knew how to choose it; and consequently Professor Ruskin cast upon the artists the great responsibility for the eccentric, superficial, or POT-BOILING qualities which degrade much of what is manufactured and sold.
1879. W. L. LINDSAY, Mind in the Lower Animals, i. 20. What are vulgarly known as ‘POT-BOILER’ books or articles.
1880. W. D. HOWELLS, The Undiscovered Country, xx. They write for pleasure and from duty. I am sorry to say that my work is mostly for the pay it brings…. I write and sell my work. It ’s what they call POT-BOILING.
1882. Athenæum, 1 April. A mere POT-BOILER, though it is marked by much of the ability of the artist. Ibid. (1883), 17 March, 340, 2. “The Captain’s Room” is, in fact, a POT-BOILER.
1885. Daily Telegraph, 28 Dec. Below the composer’s mark, and distinctly of the POT-BOILING order.
1887. Lippincott’s Magazine, July, 160. Colonel Higginson, for example—advises a connection with a newspaper. Doubtless as a POT-BOILER that would be a good thing.
1888. Globe, 17 Oct. It is quite impossible for an author to produce a level series of books…. First there is a good book, then a POT-BOILER, perhaps two POT-BOILERS, perhaps more, and then a a return to the old form.
1892. Sala’s Journal, 2 July, 239. Between the ages of eighteen and twenty-three I must have produced myself many scores of POT-BOILERS.
2. (provincial).—A housekeeper.
3. (scientific).—See quot.
1874. W. B. DAWKINS, Cave Hunting, iii. Among the articles of daily use were many rounded pebbles, with marks of fire upon them, which had probably been heated for the purpose of boiling water. POT-BOILERS, as they are called, of this kind are used by many savage peoples at the present day, and if we wished to heat water in a vessel that would not stand the fire, we should be obliged to employ a similar method.
