aboil

English edit

a- (“in, on”) +‎ boil

aboil (comparative more aboil, superlative most aboil)

In a boil; boiling. [First attested in the mid 19^th century.]^[1]
- 1911, J. M. Barrie, chapter 7, in Peter and Wendy‎^[1], New York: Grosset & Dunlap, page 94:
  The cooking, I can tell you, kept her nose to the pot, and even if there was nothing in it, even though there was no pot, she had to keep watching that it came aboil just the same.
- 2004, Patrick Livingston, Eight Steamboats: Sailing Through the Sixties, page 156:
  The stove is full, with corned beef asimmer in one pot, cabbage aboil in another, and vegetable soup asteam in a third.
(figurative) Heated up; excited. [First attested in the mid 19^th century.]^[1]
- 1923, Donn Byrne, “Belfasters”, in Changeling and Other Stories,‎^[2], New York: Century, page 100:
  He plugged on steadily, unmindful of where he was going. He was aboil with perturbation.
- 1981, Robert Stone, A Flag for Sunrise‎^[3], New York: Knopf, page 87:
  At ten o’clock on the morning of his third visit, Pablo found himself aboil with rage and sweat, glaring into the druggist’s thick horn-rimmed spectacles in an attempt to engage the dead bug eyes behind them.

boiling

excited

aboil (not comparable)

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “aboil”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 6.