distill

Alternative forms

• distil (Commonwealth)

Etymology

From Old French distiller, from Latin distillare

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [dɪˈstɪɫ]
• Rhymes: -ɪl

Verb

distill (third-person singular simple present distills, present participle distilling, simple past and past participle distilled)

1. (transitive) To subject a substance to distillation.
2. (intransitive) To undergo or be produced by distillation.
3. (transitive) To make by means of distillation, especially whisky.
4. (transitive) To exude in small drops.

   Firs distill resin.

5. (transitive) To impart in small quantities.
6. (transitive) To extract the essence of; concentrate; purify.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 5:

     But flowers distill'd though they with winter meet,

     Leese but their show; their substance still lives sweet.

   • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, Nobody, chapter I:

     Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy […] distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its savour.

7. (intransitive) To trickle down or fall in small drops; ooze out.
   • Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

     Soft showers distilled, and suns grew warm in vain.

   • Sir Walter Raleigh (ca.1554-1618)

     The Euphrates distilleth out of the mountains of Armenia.

8. (intransitive) To be manifested gently or gradually.
9. (intransitive) To drip or be wet with.