Definition

1. Verb (transitive):

   • To cook by direct exposure to radiant heat: To prepare food, especially meat or fish, by placing it close to a source of intense heat, typically from above (as in an oven's broiler) or over an open flame.
   • To expose to great heat: To make something extremely hot.

2. Verb (intransitive):

   • To be cooked by broiling: To undergo the cooking process of broiling.
   • To be very hot: To be exposed to and affected by intense heat, such as from the sun or hot weather.

3. Noun:

   • The act or process of broiling: The method of cooking using direct radiant heat.
   • A quarrel, fight, or turmoil (archaic): A state of heated conflict or commotion. (Note: This meaning is now rare and primarily historical.)

Usage Examples

• Verb (transitive):

  • I will broil the salmon for dinner. (I will cook the salmon using direct radiant heat.)
  • The desert sun broils the sand. (The desert sun makes the sand extremely hot.)

• Verb (intransitive):

  • The chicken needs to broil for eight minutes. (The chicken needs to cook under the broiler for eight minutes.)
  • We broiled in the traffic jam with no air conditioning. (We were made very hot in the traffic jam.)

• Noun:

  • Give the steak a quick broil to finish it. (Give the steak a quick cooking under intense heat.)
  • The two nobles were in a broil over the land dispute. (archaic) (The two nobles were in a heated dispute.)

Advanced Usage

• "To broil with anger/impatience": To be in a state of intense emotion, as if heated by it.
  • He was broiling with impatience as he waited for the news. (He was extremely impatient.)

Variants and Related Words

• Broiler (noun): 1. A part of an oven that provides strong heat from above for broiling food. 2. A young chicken suitable for broiling.
• Broiling (adjective): Extremely hot.
  • It was a broiling afternoon. (It was a very hot afternoon.)

Synonyms

• Verb (cook): Grill, chargrill, sear.
• Verb (be/make hot): Bake, roast, scorch, swelter.

Related Phrasal Verbs

(This word does not commonly form phrasal verbs.)

Related Idioms

• "In a broil" (archaic): In a state of heated argument or fight.
  • The council meeting descended into a broil. (The meeting turned into a loud argument.)

Noun

1. cooking by direct exposure to radiant heat (as over a fire or under a grill)

Verb

1. be very hot, due to hot weather or exposure to the sun
   • The town was broiling in the sun
   • the tourists were baking in the heat
2. heat by a natural force
   • The sun broils the valley in the summer
3. cook under a broiler
   • broil fish