boil vs simmer

boil

verb
  • To cook in boiling water. 

  • To form, or separate, by boiling or evaporation. 

  • To feel uncomfortably hot. 

  • To be moved or excited with passion; to be hot or fervid. 

  • To bring to a boil, to heat so as to cause the contents to boil. 

  • To begin to turn into a gas, seethe. 

  • To heat to the point where it begins to turn into a gas. 

  • To be uncomfortably hot. 

  • To be agitated like boiling water; to bubble; to effervesce. 

noun
  • The point at which fluid begins to change to a vapour; the boiling point. 

  • A dish of boiled food, especially seafood. 

  • A social event at which people gather to boil and eat food, especially seafood. (Compare a bake or clambake.) 

  • The collective noun for a group of hawks. 

  • A localized accumulation of pus in the skin, resulting from infection. 

simmer

verb
  • To cook or undergo heating slowly at or below the boiling point. 

  • To be on the point of breaking out into anger; to be agitated. 

  • To cause to cook or to cause to undergo heating slowly at or below the boiling point. 

  • To remain angry with someone or something past the point of exhaustion; to resign oneself to holding a grudge, especially after some failed attempts to resolve a situation. 

  • To develop gradually, of an idea or plan. 

noun
  • The state or process of simmering. 

  • Someone who plays a sim (a simulation game), particularly The Sims. 

How often have the words boil and simmer occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )