BOIL DOWN • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Boil down

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/bɔɪl daʊn/ Listen

verb

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.

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."

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."

To boil down, to reduce in bulk by boiling; as, to boil down sap or sirup.

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Etymology of 'Boil down'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Boil down" Quotes from Famous Books

... stiff like a gorget, over which lay rolls of flesh as red as that of a Caribbee. His silk hat was as glossy as satin, but the lining would have yielded grease enough for two street lamps if some grocer had bought it to boil down. ...

— Scenes from a Courtesan's Life • Honore de Balzac

... there are three big eggs in it, all buried in feathers. She must have stripped her breast almost bare to cover them. And I'm the happiest I've been all winter. I hate the long, lonely, shut-in time. I am going on a delightful spree. I shall help boil down sugar-water and make maple syrup. I shall set hins, and geese, and turkeys. I shall make soap, and clane house, and plant seed, and all my flowers will bloom again. Goody for summer; it can't come too ...

— At the Foot of the Rainbow • Gene Stratton-Porter

... an ounce; fresh milk, one and a half pints. Boil down to one pint. Strain, and add sugar and lemon juice sufficient to ...

— The Ladies Book of Useful Information - Compiled from many sources • Anonymous

... conversion of what ought to be a logical apparatus for the discovery of truth into an artificial system of elaborate and superfluous formalities. His great ambition was (in his favourite expression) to 'boil down' the law into a few broad common-sense principles. He was, therefore, not well qualified for some branches of legal practice, and inclined to regard skill of the technical kind with suspicion, if not with actual dislike. Upon this, however, I shall ...

— The Life of Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, Bart., K.C.S.I. - A Judge of the High Court of Justice • Sir Leslie Stephen