ebullition

From Old French ebullition, from Latin ēbullītiō, from ēbulliō (“to boil”).

• IPA^(key): /ˌiːbəˈlɪʃən/, /ˌɛbəˈlɪʃən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

ebullition (countable and uncountable, plural ebullitions)

1. The act of boiling.

   Synonym: ebullience

   • 1886, Robert Louis Stephenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde:

     Suddenly, and at the same moment, the ebullition ceased, and the compound changed to a dark purple, which faded again more slowly to a watery green.

2. A sudden emotional outburst.

   Synonym: ebullience

   • 1807, [Miss Guion], chapter VII, in The Three Germans. Mysteries Exemplified in the Life of Holstein of Lutztein. A German Romance. […], volume III, London: […] J[ames] F[letcher] Hughes, […], →OCLC, page 102:

     His threats—his severe exclamations were but ebullitions of keen vexation, of agony of mind.

   • 1832, Washington Irving, Tales from the Alhambra:

     Having vented the first ebullition of his wrath, he despatched a message demanding the surrender of the corporal […].

   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 12, in Vanity Fair:

     I don't think poor Amelia cared anything about Brienne and Montmirail, or was fairly interested in the war until the abdication of the Emperor; when she clapped her hands and said prayers—oh, how grateful! and flung herself into George Osborne's arms with all her soul, to the astonishment of everybody who witnessed that ebullition of sentiment.

   • 1905, Selous, Edmund, chapter X, in The Bird Watcher in the Shetlands‎^[1], page 71:

     ...it is apparent to me that these little ebullitions, or whatever they may be called, of the black guillemots are of a blended nature...

   • 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/6/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days‎^[2]:

     This villa was long and low and white, and severe after its manner : for upon and about it were none of those playful ebullitions of taste, such as conical towers, domed roofs, embattlements, statues, coloured tiles and crenellations, such as are dear to architects of villas all the world over.