BROIL
What does "BROIL" mean?
To cook food by direct radiant heat, as under a grill or over flame.
Meanings
- To cook by exposing to direct, intense heat (chiefly North American for grilling under a heat source). Broil the salmon for six minutes until the top just chars.
- To become or make extremely hot, as in scorching weather. We broiled on the platform while the delayed train crawled in. figurative
- A noisy quarrel, disturbance, or confused commotion. The meeting collapsed into a broil of accusations. archaic
Did you know?
- American and British kitchens split this word: in the US you 'broil' under the oven's top element, while in the UK the very same act is called 'grilling' - so the same verb survives on one side of the Atlantic and fades on the other.
Word origin
The cooking sense is from Old French 'bruler' / 'bruiller' (to burn); the 'quarrel' sense is from a separate Old French 'brouiller' (to mix up, embroil), and the two converged in form.
Remember it
BROIL = BR + OIL: oil spits when the heat comes straight down from above.
A little poem
The coil glows red, an upside-down sun;
fat hisses, the skin turns to gold and then done-
no fire, just the patience of heat looking down.
tercet
Wordplay
- The two chefs got into a broil over the broiler - things really heated up.
What it teaches
Some heat comes straight at you and some you brew yourself; both can leave a mark.
Quick facts
What does BROIL mean?
To cook food by direct radiant heat, as under a grill or over flame.
Is BROIL a valid word?
Yes — BROIL is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is BROIL?
BROIL has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does BROIL come from?
The cooking sense is from Old French 'bruler' / 'bruiller' (to burn); the 'quarrel' sense is from a separate Old French 'brouiller' (to mix up, embroil), and the two converged in form.
What can BROIL teach us?
Some heat comes straight at you and some you brew yourself; both can leave a mark.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.