Meaning
To become calm after anger, excitement, or agitation; to settle from a boil of emotion into composure. Very often an imperative telling someone to calm down ('Simmer down!'), which can sound jokey or faintly patronizing. Informal, originally American colloquial. Informal; as an imperative it can sound teasing or condescending, so it is best softened with humor. Regional use: General English (originally American).
Origin
A cooking metaphor. 'Simmer' itself dates to the early 1600s as an imitative word for cooking gently just below boiling. The literal phrase 'simmer down' appears in cookery and herbal directions from 1803, describing liquid reducing over low heat (Etymonline). The figurative sense - of a person or their feelings becoming calmer - is first recorded in the early 1840s: Merriam-Webster dates it to 1842, and Etymonline records it by 1848, suggesting it comes from the notion of reduction, the move from a rolling boil to a mere simmer. It belongs to an older English family of heat metaphors for emotion, alongside 'blood boils', 'in a stew', and 'blow off steam'.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- simmer down now
- simmered down
- simmering down
Usage Examples
- The crowd simmered down once the referee explained the call.
- Simmer down, you two; the race does not start for another hour.
- It took a long walk and a strong coffee for my nerves to simmer down after the interview.