boiling down

Verb

boil down (third-person singular simple present boils down, present participle boiling down, simple past and past participle boiled down)

1. (intransitive, transitive) To reduce in volume by boiling.
   • He boiled the soup down so it wouldn't be so weak.
2. (intransitive) To become reduced (to the most central elements or ingredients: to the essence, core, or implication for action).
   • So what this boils down to is that you still owe me that fifty bucks.

   Synonyms:

   come down to

3. (transitive) To reduce (to the most central elements or ingredients: to the essence, core, or implication for action).
   • My dissertation is 342 pages long, and I'm required to boil it down to a one-page abstract?!