Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BOIL, v.t.

1. To dress or cook in boiling water; to seethe; to extract the juice or quality of any thing by boiling.
2. To prepare for some use in boiling liquor; as, to boil silk, thread or cloth. To form by boiling and evaporation. This word is applied to a variety of processes for different purposes; as, to boil salt or sugar, &c. In general, boiling is a violent agitation, occasioned by heat; to boil a liquor is to subject it to heat till it bubbles, and to boil any solid substance is to subject it to heat in a boiling liquid.