distils

Verb

distil (third-person singular simple present distils, present participle distilling, simple past and past participle distilled)

1. (UK, transitive) To exude (a liquid) in small drops; also, to give off (a vapour) which condenses in small drops.
   • Firs distil resin.
2. (UK, broadly, figuratively, transitive) To impart (information, etc.) in small quantities; to infuse.
   • But of all other men our Solomon could leaſt be ignorant of this truth. Not only for that reaſon, becauſe God had filled his heart with a large meaſure of wiſdom beyond other men: but even for this reaſon alſo: that being born of wiſe and godly Parents, and born to a Kingdom too, […] he had this...1630 (date delivered), Robert Sanderson, “[Ad Populum.] The First Sermon. At the Assises at Lincoln in the Year 1630. at the Request of Sir Daniel Deligne Knight, then High-Sheriff of that County.”...
3. (UK, transitive) To heat (a substance, usually a liquid) so that a vapour is produced, and then to cool the vapour so that it condenses back into a liquid, either to purify the original substance or to obtain one of its components; to subject to distillation.
   • Haue I not bene
     Thy Pupill long? Haſt thou not learn'd me how
     To make Perfumes? Diſtill? Preſerue?1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
4. (UK, transitive) Followed by off or out: to expel (a volatile substance) from something by distillation.
5. (UK, also, figuratively, transitive) To extract the essence of (something) by, or as if by, distillation; to concentrate, to purify.
   • But earthlyer happy is the roſe diſtild,
     Then that, which, withering on the virgin thorne,
     Growes, liues, and dies, in ſingle bleſſedneſſe.c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]
6. (UK, also, figuratively, transitive) To transform a thing (into something else) by distillation.
   • Ile grow to your embraces, till two ſoules
     Diſtilled into kiſſes, through our lips
     Doe make one ſpirit of love.a. 1638 (date written), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “The Sad Shepherd: Or, A Tale of Robin-Hood”, in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The Second Volume. […] (Second Folio), London: […] Richard...

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