Link Centre Dictionary

simmer

sim·mer

UK/ˈsɪmə/ US/ˈsɪmɚ/ uncommon informal slang
verb (1) noun (1)

verb

1.

boil slowly at low temperature

  • “simmer the sauce”
  • “simmering water”

noun

1.

temperature just below the boiling point

  • “the stew remained at a simmer for hours”

Origin

From alteration of dialectal simper, from Middle English simperen (“to simmer”), of possibly imitative origin. First attested in the intransitive sense. The noun is from the verb. First attested in the late 15ᵗʰ century.

Phrases

  • simmer down
  • simmer up

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.