Definition of "distil"
distil
verb
third-person singular simple present distils, present participle distilling, simple past and past participle distilled
(transitive)
To exude (a liquid) in small drops; also, to give off (a vapour) which condenses in small drops.
Quotations
[I]t [Silene] eaſeth the head-ach, if togither vvith oile of roſes it be diſtilled upon the head by vvay of embrochation.
1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXVII.] Of Stinking Horehound: Of Mille-graine, or Oke of Ierusalem: Of Brabyla, Bryon, Bupleuros, Catanance: Of Calla, Circæa, and Cirsium: Of Cratægonon and Thelygonum: Of Crocodilium and Cynosorchis: Of Chrysolachanon, Cucubalon, and Conserva..”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, published 1635, page 280
[B]eſide it [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil] ſtood / One ſhap'd & wing'd like one of thoſe from Heav'n / By us oft ſeen; his dewie locks diſtill'd / Ambroſia; […]
1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 54–57
[…] Trees do deſtil VVater a pace when Clouds or Miſts hang about them; […] Beſides that in hot Regions Trees may in the nigh time deſtil VVater, though the Air be clear, and there be no Miſt about them, […]
1692, John Ray, “Upon a Review of the Precedent Discourse, Some Things Thought Fit to be Added and Amended”, in Miscellaneous Discourses Concerning the Dissolution and Changes of the World. […], London: […] Samuel Smith, […], pages 250–251
Animals are a little like ourselves: they excel in an art only on condition of specializing in it. The Epeira, who, being omnivorous, is obliged to generalize, abandons scientific methods and makes up for this by distilling a poison capable of producing torpor and even death, no matter what the point attacked.
1912, J[ean-]Henri Fabre, “The Garden Spiders: Pairing and Hunting”, in Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, transl., The Life of the Spider, New York, N.Y.: Blue Ribbon Books, page 315
(by extension, figuratively) To impart (information, etc.) in small quantities; to infuse.
Quotations
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 vvith a large meaſure of vviſdom beyond other men: but even for this reaſon alſo: that being born of vviſe and godly Parents, and born to a Kingdom too, […] he had this truth (conſidering the great uſefulneſs of it to him in the vvhole time of his future Government) early diſtilled into him by both his Parents, and vvas ſeaſoned thereinto from his childhood in his education.
1630, Robert Sanderson, “, published 1671, paragraph 5, page 253
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.
Quotations
Haue I not bene / Thy Pupill long? Haſt thou not learn'd me hovv / 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, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene v], page 373, column 1
By putting the hydrate into a bent tube, afterwards hermetically sealed, I found it easy, after decomposing it by a heat of 100°, to distil the yellow fluid to one end of the tube, and so separate it from the remaining portion.
1823 November 30, Michael Faraday, “LXXXVI. On Fluid Chlorine. […]”, in Alexander Tilloch, Richard Taylor, editors, The Philosophical Magazine and Journal: Comprehending the Various Branches of Science, the Liberal and Fine Arts, Agriculture, Manufactures, and Commerce, volume LXII, number 307, London: […] Richard Taylor, […]; and sold by Cadell; Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; […], page 414
[I]n fact, it [kelp] is used in a variety of medicines; we boil, burn, and distil it to produce salts, corrodents, sublimates, and other medicinal substances.
1869 August 21, John Lyon, “The Self-made Chemist. A True Story, from the Scrap-book of an Old Reporter.”, in The Utah Magazine: The Home Journal of the People. […], volume III, number 16, Salt Lake City, Ut.: W[illiam] S[amuel] Godbe and E[lias] L[acy] T[homas] Harrison, page 251, column 2
(also figuratively)
To extract the essence of (something) by, or as if by, distillation; to concentrate, to purify.
Quotations
But earthlyer happy is the roſe diſtild, / Then that, vvhich, vvithering on the virgin thorne, / Grovves, 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, [Act I, scene i]
An herb deſtill'd, and drunk, may dvvell next doore, / On the ſame floore, / To a brave ſoul: Exalt the poore, / They can do more.
, George Herbert, “Praise”, in [Nicholas Ferrar], editor, The Temple: Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […]; reprinted London: Elliot Stock, […], 1885, page 53
[T]he ladies […] begged me to excuſe ſome large ſieves of leaves and flowers that covered two thirds of the floor; for they intended to diſtil them when they were dry, and they had no other room that ſo conveniently received the riſing ſun.
1750 September 21, Samuel Johnson, “No. Monday, September 10. 1750 [Julian calendar].”, in The Rambler, volume II, Edinburgh: [[…] Sands, Murray, and Cochran]; sold by W. Gordon, C. Wright, J. Yair, […], published 1750, page 195
Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy— […] distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its savour.
1914, Louis Joseph Vance, “Anarchy”, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, pages 18–19
To transform a thing (into something else) by distillation.
Quotations
Ile grovv to your embraces, till tvvo 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 Meighen, published 1640, Act I, scene vi, page 138
(also figuratively) To make (something, especially spirits such as gin and whisky) by distillation.
Quotations
There is ſome ſoule of goodneſſe in things euill, / VVould men obſeruingly diſtill it out.
1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene i], page 83, column 2
It is ſuppoſ'd / He that meetes Hector, yſſues from our choice, / And choice (being mutuall act of all our ſoules) / Makes merit her election, and doth boyle, / (As tvvere from forth vs all) a man diſtill'd / Out of our vertues, […]
c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, [Act I, scene iii]
VVhat potions haue I drunke of Syren teares / Diſtil'd from Lymbecks foule as hell vvithin, / Applying feares to hops, and hopes to feares, / Still looſing vvhen I ſavv my ſelfe to vvin?
1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 119”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley
They haue Arack or Vſquebagh, diſtilled from Dates or Rice, both vvhich are Epidemick in their mirth and Feſtiuals.
1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “A Discourse of the Life and Habit of the Persians at This Present”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Travaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, page 150
Thou art no Sabbath drawler of old saws, / Distill'd from some worm-canker'd homily; / But spurr'd at heart with fieriest energy / To embattail and to wall about thy cause / With iron-worded proof, […]
1830, Alfred Tennyson, “To J. M. K.”, in The Complete Poetical Works of Alfred Tennyson, Chicago, Ill.: The Dominion Company, published 1897, page 32
(intransitive)
To fall or trickle down in small drops; to exude, to ooze out; also, to come out as a vapour which condenses in small drops.
Quotations
The Euphrates […] diſtilleth out of the mountains of Armenia.
1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], “Of the Place of Paradise”, in The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], 1st book, §. XV (A Conclusion by Way of Repetition of Some Things Spoken of before)
Balm, from a ſilver-box diſtill'd around, / Shall all bedew the roots, and ſcent the ſacred ground.
a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The Epithalamium of Helen and Menelaus. From the 18th Idyllium of Theocritus.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, page 412
In vain kind ſeaſons ſwell'd the teeming grain, / Soft ſhow'rs distill'd, and Suns grew warm in vain; / The ſwain with tears to beaſts his labour yields, / And famiſh'd dies amidſt his ripen'd fields.
1713, Alexander Pope, “Windsor-Forest. […]”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, page 52
Nothing can be imagined more tender than vvas the Parting betvveen theſe tvvo Lovers. A thouſand Sighs heaved the Boſom of Joſeph; a thouſand Tears diſtilled from the lovely Eyes of Fanny, […]
1743, Henry Fielding, “Of Several New Matters Not Expected”, in The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, and His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams. […], 3rd edition, volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], book I, page 42
The wine which from yon wounded palm on high / Fills yonder gourd, as slowly it distills, / Grows sour at once if Lorrinite pass by.
1810, Robert Southey, “The Enchantress”, in The Curse of Kehama, London: […] [F]or Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], by James Ballantyne and Co. […], page 113
(figuratively) to be manifested gently or gradually.
Quotations
And al Iſrael haue tranſgreſſed thy law, and haue declined from hearing thy voice, and the malediction hath diſtilled vpon vs, & the deteſtation, which is written in the booke of Moyſes the ſeruant of God, becauſe we haue ſinned to him.
1610, The Second Tome of the Holie Bible, […] (Douay–Rheims Bible), Doway: Lavrence Kellam, […], Daniel 9:11, page 795
[L]et the Subject treated on be vvhatever it vvill, their Imaginations are ſo entirely poſſeſs'd and replete vvith the Defects of other Pens, that the very Quinteſſence of what is bad, does of neceſſity diſtil into their ovvn: by vvhich means the vvhole appears to be nothing elſe but an Abſtract of the Criticiſms themſelves have made.
1704, [Jonathan Swift], “Section III. A Digression Concerning Criticks.”, in A Tale of a Tub. […], London: […] John Nutt, […], page 79
Thy bountiful care / What tongue can recite? / It breathes in the air, / It shines in the light: / It streams from the hills, / It descends to the plain, / And sweetly distils / In the dew and the rain.
a. 1837 (date written), Robert Grant, “Psalm CIV [O Worship the King]”, in [Charles Grant, 1st Baron Glenelg], editor, Sacred Poems. […], new edition, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1868, stanza 4, page 34
To drip or be wet with some liquid.
Quotations
So vvhen tvvo Boars, in vvild Ytene bred, / Or on VVeſtphalia’s fatt’ning Cheſt-nuts fed, / […] / In the black Flood they vvallovv o’er and o’er, / ’Till their arm’d Javvs diſtill vvith Foam and Gore.
, [John] Gay, “Book III. Of Walking the Streets by Night.”, in Trivia: Or, The Art of Walking the Streets of London, London: […] Bernard Lintott, […], page 56
[B]efore ſome Mountain Lion's Ire / The village Curs, and trembling Svvains retire; / VVhen o'er the ſlaughter'd Bull they hear him roar, / And ſee his Javvs diſtil vvith ſmoaking Gore; […]
1720, Homer, [Alexander] Pope, transl., “Book XVII”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume V, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], page 6, lines 69–72
[A] magnificent beau in silk stockings and pumps, bounding, skipping, swinging, capering, and throwing himself into ten thousand attitudes, till his face glows with fever, and distils with perspiration: […]
1815 (date written), [Thomas Love Peacock], chapter XIII, in Headlong Hall, London: […] [S. Gosnell] for T[homas] Hookham, Jun. and Co. […], published 1816, page 166
To turn into a vapour and then condense back into a liquid; to undergo or be produced by distillation.
Quotations
Carbonic acid is a limpid colourless body, extremely fluid, and floating upon the other contents of the tube. It distills readily and rapidly at the difference of temperature between 32° and 0°.
1823 November 30, Michael Faraday, “LXXXVI. On Fluid Chlorine. […]”, in Alexander Tilloch, Richard Taylor, editors, The Philosophical Magazine and Journal: Comprehending the Various Branches of Science, the Liberal and Fine Arts, Agriculture, Manufactures, and Commerce, volume LXII, number 307, London: […] Richard Taylor, […]; and sold by Cadell; Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; […], page 419