boiling point
Physics, Chemistry. the temperature at which the vapor pressure of a liquid is equal to the pressure of the atmosphere on the liquid, equal to 212°F (100°C) for water at sea level. Abbreviation: b.p.
the point beyond which one becomes angry, outraged, or agitated.
the point at which matters reach a crisis.
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Origin of boiling point
1Words Nearby boiling point
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use boiling point in a sentence
“It was just a boiling point for me,” says Bonney, 25, who couldn’t save money after paying his bills— even while living with his parents.
Hourly Workers Are Demanding Better Pay and Benefits—and Getting Them | Alana Semuels | July 22, 2021 | TimeHe made the calibration process more accurate by simply using the freezing and boiling points of water at sea level—no more salt mixture requiring its own measurements, à la Fahrenheit.
Melting Butter, Poisonous Mushrooms and the Strange History of the Invention of the Thermometer | Phil Jaekl | June 1, 2021 | TimeHe developed a high-pitched screech like a teakettle announcing its boiling point that was quelled only by leaving the confines of our little house.
My Pandemic Baby Is Pulling Us Out of Our Cozy Cave. But How Will the World See a Disabled Mother Like Me? | Rebekah Taussig | April 28, 2021 | TimeIn principle we can use the fundamental physics we know to calculate the boiling point of water to immense accuracy—but nobody has done it yet, because the calculation is hard.
Folks over here are sick of it,” said one Senate GOP aide who added that Republicans were “reaching a boiling point with him” as Mnuchin “gives and gives and gives and gets nothing in return.
Senate Republicans fume as Mnuchin gives ground to Pelosi in search of deal | Erica Werner, Jeff Stein | October 22, 2020 | Washington Post
It was the boiling point of tensions that Nigeria had seen bubble over for years.
It is unpasteurized and unfiltered, and the wort reaches the boiling point but never boils.
The Iranian and Hezbollah intervention in Syria this spring has exacerbated the tensions to the boiling point.
Zarqawism Lives: Iraq’s al Qaeda Nightmare Is Back | Bruce Riedel | August 12, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTBut it was an unleashing of many tensions…and things came to a boiling point.
Dutch Coronation Celebrations Clouded After Boston Marathon Bombing | Nadette De Visser | April 29, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThe author Malcolm Gladwell defined a tipping point as "the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point."
The End of Male Privilege: Women Fed Up With Bad Behavior | Leslie Bennetts | May 23, 2011 | THE DAILY BEASTInto this song she weaves all the abuse which long experience tells her will lash her husband up to boiling-point.
The Adventures of Louis de Rougemont | Louis de RougemontAt the top the water is still 39 from its boiling-point, and even at the bottom it is 19; but at D the deficiency is only 4.
In that of Fahrenheit, which is chiefly used in England, the freezing point of water is 32, and the boiling point 212.
When the thermometer was sunk a few inches into the clay, it rose generally to within a few degrees of the boiling point.
The Book of Curiosities | I. PlattsIn that of Reaumur, which is chiefly used abroad, the freezing point of water is 0, and the boiling point 80.
British Dictionary definitions for boiling point
the temperature at which a liquid boils at a given pressure, usually atmospheric pressure at sea level; the temperature at which the vapour pressure of a liquid equals the external pressure
informal the condition of being angered or highly excited
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for boiling point
[ boi′lĭng ]
The temperature at which a liquid changes to a vapor or gas. This temperature stays the same until all the liquid has vaporized. As the temperature of a liquid rises, the pressure of escaping vapor also rises, and at the boiling point the pressure of the escaping vapor is equal to that exerted on the liquid by the surrounding air, causing bubbles to form. Typically boiling points are measured at sea level. At higher altitudes, where atmospheric pressure is lower, boiling points are lower. The boiling point of water at sea level is 100°C (212°F), while at the top of Mount Everest it is 71°C (159.8°F).
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for boiling point
The temperature at which a given material changes from a liquid to a gas. The boiling point is the same temperature as the condensation point. (See phases of matter.)
Notes for boiling point
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Other Idioms and Phrases with boiling point
A climax or crisis; a high degree of fury, excitement, or outrage. For example, The union's disgust with management has reached the boiling point. This metaphoric term alludes to the temperature at which water boils. [Second half of 1700s]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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