dis ‧ till BrE AmE , distil /dɪˈstɪl/ verb ( past tense and past participle distilled , present participle distilling ) [transitive]
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: distiller , from Latin stillare 'to fall in drops' ]
1 . to make a liquid such as water or alcohol more pure by heating it so that it becomes a gas and then letting it cool. Drinks such as ↑ whisky are made this way:
distilled water
2 . to remove a chemical substance from a plant, for example by heating or pressing it
3 . to get the main ideas or facts from a much larger amount of information
distill something into something
The notes I had brought back were waiting to be distilled into a book.
—distillation /ˌdɪstəˈleɪʃ ə n, ˌdɪstɪˈleɪʃ ə n/ noun [uncountable and countable]