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goes off the boil

goes off the boil is the third-person singular simple present indicative of go off the boil.

Meaning of go off the boil

Verb

go off the boil (third-person singular simple present goes off the boil, present participle going off the boil, simple past went off the boil, past participle gone off the boil)

  1. (Australia, UK) To cease to boil when heat is no longer applied.
    • All puddings must be boiled in plenty of water, turned frequently, kept closely covered, and never allowed to go off the boil.1891, Nelson A. Dunning, editor, The Farmers' Alliance History and Agricultural Digest
  2. (Australia, UK, idiomatic) To lose interest; to pall.
    • As one of the rearguard put it, "We laid up until the Hun had gone off the boil a bit and slipped out the following night."1955, John Baker White, The Big Lie
  3. (Australia, UK, idiomatic) To diminish in intensity or urgency.
  4. (Australia, UK, idiomatic) To become less successful.

Questions about goes off the boil

What is goes off the boil the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Goes off the boil is the third-person singular simple present indicative of go off the boil.

Words near goes off the boil in the dictionary

  1. goes off at score
  2. goes off half-cocked
  3. goes off into the weeds
  4. goes off on a tangent
  5. goes off on one
  6. goes off the boil
  7. goes off the handle
  8. goes off the res
  9. goes off the reservation
  10. goes off the rez
  11. goes on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: goes off the boil (page history and authors); go off the boil (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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