distil
verb /dɪˈstɪl/
/dɪˈstɪl/
(North American English distill)
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they distil | /dɪˈstɪl/ /dɪˈstɪl/ |
| (North American English also) present simple I / you / we / they distill | /dɪˈstɪl/ /dɪˈstɪl/ |
| he / she / it distils | /dɪˈstɪlz/ /dɪˈstɪlz/ |
| (North American English also) he / she / it distills | /dɪˈstɪlz/ /dɪˈstɪlz/ |
| past simple distilled | /dɪˈstɪld/ /dɪˈstɪld/ |
| past participle distilled | /dɪˈstɪld/ /dɪˈstɪld/ |
| -ing form distilling | /dɪˈstɪlɪŋ/ /dɪˈstɪlɪŋ/ |
- distil something (from something) to make a liquid pure by heating it until it becomes a gas, then cooling it and collecting the drops of liquid that form
- to distil fresh water from seawater
- distilled water
- distil something to make something such as a strong alcoholic drink in this way
- The factory distils and bottles whisky.
- distil something (from/into something) (formal) to get the essential meaning or ideas from thoughts, information, experiences, etc.
- The notes I made on my travels were distilled into a book.
Word Originlate Middle English: from Latin distillare, variant of destillare, from de- ‘down, away’ + stillare (from stilla ‘a drop’).