Definition

1. Verb:
   • To boil excessively: To cook or heat a liquid beyond the normal boiling point, often resulting in undesirable changes to texture or quality.
   • To overflow while boiling: To spill over the sides of a container because the contents are boiling too vigorously.

Examples of Usage

• Verb:
  • Be careful not to overboil the soup, or the vegetables will become mushy.
  • The pot overboiled because the heat was set too high, making a mess on the stovetop.
  • If you overboil the milk, it can develop a burnt taste.

Advanced Usage

• "to overboil with emotion" (figurative, less common): To become excessively agitated or to overflow with a strong feeling.
  • His anger finally overboiled, and he shouted at everyone in the room.

Variants and Related Words

• Overboiled (adj): Describes something that has been boiled excessively.
  • The overboiled eggs had a greenish ring around the yolk.
• Boil over (phrasal verb): A more common way to express the overflow meaning of "overboil".
  • Watch the pot so the pasta doesn't boil over.

Synonyms

• Overcook (specifically for the excessive boiling meaning).
• Spill over (for the overflow meaning).

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Boil over: To overflow from a container while boiling. This is often used interchangeably with one meaning of "overboil".
  • The saucepan boiled over and put out the gas flame.

Related Idioms

• To make a mountain out of a molehill: While not directly related, this idiom about excessive reaction can be conceptually linked to the figurative use of "overboil" with emotion.

Verb

1. boil excessively
   • The peas are overboiled
2. overflow or cause to overflow while boiling
   • The milk is boiling over