The Collaborative International Dictionary
Boil \Boil\, v. t.
To heat to the boiling point, or so as to cause ebullition; as, to boil water.
To form, or separate, by boiling or evaporation; as, to boil sugar or salt.
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To subject to the action of heat in a boiling liquid so as to produce some specific effect, as cooking, cleansing, etc.; as, to boil meat; to boil clothes.
The stomach cook is for the hall, And boileth meate for them all.
--Gower. -
To steep or soak in warm water. [Obs.]
To try whether seeds be old or new, the sense can not inform; but if you boil them in water, the new seeds will sprout sooner.
--Bacon.To boil down, to reduce in bulk by boiling; as, to boil down sap or sirup.
Usage examples of "to boil down".
I scooped under the snow for teaberry plants to boil down and pour over snowballs for dessert.
When there was nothing else to boil down, it always boiled down to hunger.
Finally, after weeks, months, yes even years, two to be precise, Bill was able to boil down all the wisdom and knowledge into one short mathematical statement.
What it seemed to boil down to was that one had to be utterly focused on what one desired.
What it seems to boil down to is they're saying I was undergoing something like a very much slowed-down, very profound emotional shock—.
Now there was a tough, ruthless, conniving bastard who would sell his grandmother to boil down for soap if that soap would grease the runway of the Ship of State.