verb
also dis·til də̇ˈstil
( distilled ; distilled ; distilling ; distills also distils )
Etymology: Middle English distillen, from Middle French distiller, from Late Latin distillare, alteration of Latin destillare, from de- down + stillare to drip, trickle, from stilla drop; akin to German stieren to stare, Old Norse stira to stare, Latin stiria icicle, Lithuanian stỹrti to stiffen, Old English stān stone — more at de- , stone
transitive verb
1.
a. : to send or pour forth in small quantities : infuse
snowy … blossoms that distill their fragrance through the countryside — American Guide Series: Virginia
b. : to let fall or precipitate in drops or in a wet mist
some caves are dry, others distill water from invisible rifts or pendent beards — Norman Douglas
2.
a. : to subject to or transform by distillation
distill molasses into rum
b. : to get, extract, or make by distillation, by a process suggesting distillation, or as if by distillation
a strong drink distilled from grain
distill gasoline from crude oil
distill coal tar from coal
basic truths must be discovered and distilled out of the available mass of mental acrobatics, common sense, horse sense, and nonsense — P.M.Mazur
they manage to distill comedy out of the spiritual loneliness of the characters they are playing — Brooks Atkinson
a 1500-page narrative distilled from 168 bound volumes of his papers — A.S.Henning
c. : to obtain an extract from (as a plant) by infusion and distillation
making medicines by distilling herbs she had gathered
d. : to remove by distillation — usually used with out or off
distill impurities from the elixir
distill off the impurities
the heavy oil left after gasoline and light oils are distilled off the crude — Newsweek
e. : to make concentrated by abridgment and purification or by the extraction of an essential or typical portion : concentrate , purify
distill the information before presenting it to the committee
she distills the lore of the ancients and the learning of modern specialists into a literary form palatable to a wide public — W.E.D.Allen
a lyric poet works in a more distilled medium than narrative prose — Cyril Connolly
3. obsolete : dissolve , melt
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to fall or materialize in drops or in a fine moisture : drop , trickle
water distilling over the rocks from the moist undergrowth
b. : to fall, appear, or materialize slowly or in small quantities at a time as if by distillation
spiritual values distill slowly from the interaction of sensation, emotion, or thought — G.R.Harrison
2. : to undergo distillation : condense or drop from a still after distillation
a liquor that distills easily
3. : to perform distillation