An incident where a heated liquid boils so vigorously that it overflows its container, spilling over the sides; or a situation that suddenly becomes chaotic or violent after building tension.
Compound of 'boil' and 'over' (from Old English 'ofer'), meaning to overflow while boiling. The figurative meaning developed in the 20th century to describe explosive situations.
The term 'boilover' shifted from literal kitchen disasters to describe social eruptions—a 'boilover' might be a riot that explodes from building tensions, showing how vivid physical metaphors help us describe human behavior and social pressure.
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