roil
/rɔɪl
/verb
1 [with object] literary Make (a liquid) turbid or muddy by disturbing the sediment: winds roil these waters
1.1 [no object] (Of a liquid) move in a turbulent, swirling manner: the sea roiled below her...
- The water roils around the combatants, and the sky is filled with clouds and tiny lines that intensify the sense of cataclysm.
- The core mantle boundary is a complex and dynamic area that churns and chugs as the liquid iron core roils at the bottom of the rock-like mantle.
- The North Sea roils just off the former hippie village of Monster, 40 miles southwest of Amsterdam.
2 US term for rile (sense 1).That roiled his colleagues and, some argued, prolonged a stoppage that wiped out the World Series....
- That comment still roils the ultra-liberal faculty at the university.
- Any religious film with violence is bound to roil some people.
Origin
Late 16th century: perhaps from Old French ruiler 'mix mortar', from late Latin regulare 'regulate'.
rile from early 19th century:
Rile ‘to anger’ and roil ‘to anger or to churn’ (late 16th century) are both the same word probably from Old French ruiler ‘mix mortar’.