overboil
/'ouvə'bɔil/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- 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
- boil excessively
- The peas are overboiled
- overflow or cause to overflow while boiling
- The milk is boiling over