BOILING, in the culinary art, is a method of dressing meats by coction in hot water, intended to soften them, and dispose them for easier digestion. The effects of boiling are different according to the kinds and qualities of the water. Pulse boiled in sea-water grow harder; mutton boiled in the same becomes softer and tenderer than in fresh water, but tastes saltish and bitter.
BOILING to Death (caldariis decoquere), in the middle age; a kind of punishment inflicted on thieves, false coiners, and some other criminals.